Modem? Do you use dialup or cable/DSL? If cable or DSL, you might be able to connect the two computers together using the network cable that currently connects the old computer to the modem. It’s often light blue (but not always) and the ends look like a fatter phone jack connection.
But just disregard all that if you’re going with the flash drive solution.
USB is the type of connector that flash drives use to connect to your computer. It’s that silver plug thing at the end of your flash drive that goes into the hole in your computer.
Your flash drive, therefore, is one type of USB drive. “Flash” means it uses small microchips (called flash memory) to store data. Flash drives are physically smaller but have less capacity.
The other main type of USB drive is a USB hard drive. They store data on spinning magnetic disks. They are physically larger and may require external power from an AC adapter, but will give you more capacity per dollar.
This should be obvious, but I forgot to mention that you’d go through a similar procedure on the new Firefox, only this time you’d Import instead of Export the bookmarks
And if you’re going to spend money on new flash drives, USB hard drives would actually be better suited for this (see my last post). They’ll get you a lot more space for the same amount of money.
The advice I always give people is relevant here: buy the best computer you can afford. Set the budget, and it will answer most of your questions for you.
Also, don’t bother with adjusting the budget or making a flexible budget. Cutting corners also tends to be a waste of time. Buying a new computer is pretty much a race against the clock. The most you spend, the longer the computer will give you adequate service.
This sounds like an excellent solution to your problems. It will certainly do everything that you listed in the OP with aplomb. Buying new memory may be somewhat cheaper, but it may not be worthwhile to put new memory in that old computer that may or may not last much longer, not to mention the fact that there’s a fair chance that adding memory will help but not entirely fix your problems.
Nowadays, crossover cables usually aren’t necessary. Most network cards will automatically detect an ad hoc connection and handle it themselves. I haven’t seen one since the P4 era not do it.
I know that gigabit NICs should auto-detect, but the OP’s PC is old and almost certainly not gigabit. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen a 100 Mbit link auto-detect a crossover link.
