New laptop

Save all your contacts to your email provider, google, msn, hotmail, whoever. Do not save them on the laptop. Never save passwords on your laptop. Use a password manager to save and generate strong passwords. LastPass is very good. I nly need to remember one password now. I dont think you will find a new operating system a problem. I use a Mac at home and Windows 10 on my laptop, very easy. Please dont save passwords on sites and chrome , google etc. All the techies advise a password manager (is free)

This is a frequent problem for quite a few of the customers I support.

Firstly, make sure you know your email address and password then log on to the web servers. You need to understand, when you send and receive emails, they are actually delivered to large computers (servers) somewhere on the internet. These are managed and run by your email provider. Your computer has an app that talks to these servers, so what you see on your email programme on your PC is actually a display of what is on the servers. You have two ways of accessing emails, one via the app on your PC and the second by logging onto the website (and subsequently the email servers themselves) of your email provider. I'm explaining this so you understand that, if something goes wrong with your PC, you can still access your emails from another device by logging on to the website of your email provider (e.g. if you use gmail, google ‘gmail login’ from your browser search bar). You will need to enter your email address followed by your password when requested. If you have forgotten your password, at this point you can click the 'Forgot password?' link and you will get an email on your PC with a link and instructions to reset your password. (When you reset your password, don't forget to change it on your PC email programme or else you will only be able to access your emails from the website.)

Once you've logged into your email servers, you will be able to check your saved contacts too and your account settings and set up folders for filing mails if you want to. (Beware, security has tightened up considerably and you may need to give a mobile phone number which will receive a code that needs to be entered whenever you log into the website servers.) If you have saved important emails on your PC and are worried about losing them, you could print them off or forward them to yourself so they appear on the servers again and you can file them again on the new PC.

As for forgotten passwords, I have to say that is is better not to ask your PC to remember passwords as you will forget them (as you have). Using a password manager is good advice. You can reset your passwords by going through a similar process as for email. If you must write passwords down somewhere, remember to be precise, upper case, lower case, spaces etc. all count. The same goes for security questions. Don't write 'Park Street' if you entered 'Park St'.

As for changing operating systems, I'm afraid it is something you won't be able to avoid and they are all a bit different. You will have a learning curve, whichever PC you choose. My advice is to make YouTube your best friend. If you want to know how to do something, just query on YouTube but make sure you say which operating system you are using.

Finally, if you have a good broadband link and you don't really have a particular, high specification, computing need such as gaming or video editing, you might also consider a Chromebook. You won't ever have to upgrade the operating system or worry about antivirus. Like cofusedbeetle, I use Windows 10, Apple and Android but I have found that customers with a Chromebook seem to have fewer problems with their computers once they have the hang of using the programmes on it. Get plenty of advice and try various models and operating systems.

I have to say I hardly ever use my nearly new laptop I bought an iPad and use it for almost everything . Not everyone’s cup of tea of course.

I have a Samsung Chromebook and have had little trouble with it. The Cloud storage is more than adequate for my needs. As a Google product, it syncs contacts with my gmail account on an Adroid phone. I still have a bit of a struggle locating documents I've saved on the Drive! It's an early example of a Chromebook and I know there are now newer products on the market. However, I will wait a year or so more before I consider up-dating.

Same here Tanith. Bought a new MacBook a few months ago to replace ancient PC thinking it would be as user-friendly and intuitive as my beloved iPad. I barely touch said MacBook from one month to the next, while the iPad is always in use!

Same here mostlyharmless. When at home and often in the office everything these days is done on my phone or tablet.

I am a Google OS and Android person through and through.

I persuaded my sister to buy an iPad instead of replacing her old laptop and she loves it and has now replaced her old phone with an iPhone (I didn’t suggest this).
If you live near to a city with an Apple Store, they run free short classes showing how to use their products. You could have a go before making any final decisions.

For many, a tablet, such as an iPad, is enough. I use my iPad most of the time, especially when relaxing in the evening. I'm using my iPad now. However, I'm a touch typist, the iPad is frustrating and slow when there's a large document to type and format. I run a branch of an old car group, send out group emails and reports, edit videos, use a data base, set up spread sheets, make the most of Optical Character Recognition (in conjunction with my printer) when people send me old documents to record. Don't get me started on the photography files! I can't do much of this on an iPad but my MacBook is fine although the iMac is even better because of the screen size. I'm still not much of a Windows fan though, despite using W10 to train with. However, Microsoft Office is still the industry standard and my documents for the publisher have to be in MS Word format (which I have on the iPad but it really is a poor substitute with limited functionality).

So, it really depends on what you want your PC or tablet to do for you. IOS (iPad and iPhone operating systems) are 'cut down' versions of the Apple Mac operating systems, you can only get apps from Apple. Android is Google's operating system. PCs have larger storage and a greater choice of apps (apart from Chromebook, which relies on everything being stored in Google's cloud, not in the Chromebook).

Most storage is in a cloud these days, you no longer need large amounts of storage but, if you like to have family videos and photos on your tablet, together with music files, you should consider getting a tablet with larger storage size. If everything is in a ‘cloud’ and your internet goes down, you have to wait until connected again unless you have stored some of your files on the tablet or planned in advance to work on them 'offline'.

Think about what you need your laptop/PC/tablet for and try them out in a large store. If you go to Apple, they will only sell you Apple products. Incidentally, you can mix and match operating systems. I use an Android phone with Apple and Windows devices.

Thanks nanamcgeek.
I find we need a pc or a laptop to set up new accounts sometimes.
It's a bit frustrating that ipad doesn't support Flash.
I find the ipad useful as my eyesight worsens (awaiting cataract op) as you can expand text easily or hold it closer to you. I was disappointed to find my basic Macbook screen has a very small usable display area. It's just too small for me to see!

Than you all for advice and ideas - much appreciated.

I do need a laptop as I edit photos and do some designy stuff for a choral society and other organisations. I also use music writing/editing software.

I used to working photography and have millions of pics, but they are mainly stored on CDs; just a few on the laptop itself.

I think the best thing I can do is to ask a local computer bod to assess my needs and how best they might be met reasonably cheaply.

Chromebook idea is interesting - we have a good broadband speed now; but there are occasional dropouts and it would be frustrating not to be able to access things.

mostlyharmless, Apple phased out the use of Flash quite a while ago, and with good reason - it's a security nightmare and is being phased out slowly across the Web. It is being replaced by HTML 5. However, it is possible to run Flash videos on the iPad, but you need to use a different browser - just search on the App store for Flash players, then install and open the browser and navigate to the page with Flash content.

Thanks nanamcgeek I’ll give that a try.

Suggest at least some options from which you will choose

I just pay someone to do it for me and see it as part of the cost of buying new equipment.