Tempting though it may to rely on Windows Easy Transfer Tool when upgrading user PCs to Vista, you'd be well served to read the documentation on Microsoft's User State Migration Toolkit (USMT). Now in Version 3.0, it can provide a superior OS-upgrade experience. A basic USMT description begins with the SaveState command line prompt. You run it from the workstation that's being migrated, and it saves an admin-cus Tempting though it may to rely on Windows Easy Transfer Tool when upgrading user PCs to Vista, you’d be well served to read the documentation on Microsoft’s User State Migration Toolkit (USMT). Now in Version 3.0, it can provide a superior OS-upgrade experience.A basic USMT description begins with the SaveState command line prompt. You run it from the workstation that’s being migrated, and it saves an admin-customizable snapshot of the user’s OS settings, application settings and data. You can then wipe the machine and do a clean install of Vista — definitely the preferred method. Once Vista is cooking, you simply run LoadState from the new command line, and the system gets updated with that user’s individual goodies. USMT has a leg up on Windows Easy Transfer in that administrators can use the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) tools to make USMT an automatic part of a large-scale Vista deployment. So WAIK can be targeted at 20 machines, and each machine can initiate USMT off the network prior to installation, run a standard user migration script, then install Vista and then restore using LoadState automatically as well. USMT is a sweet tool kit, though we have some caveats. Automating USMT means ensuring that your users not only have their data in the same locations, but also that their application portfolios are the same as well. You can certainly customize USMT to any individual user’s box, but that effectively takes that user out of the automated loop.Another caveat with USMT is that it isn’t all-encompassing in what it migrates. For one thing, you can’t update settings from an older version of an application to a newer one — except for Microsoft Office. That’s great for Office 2003/XP users going to Office 2007/Vista. But for other applications that will get revved as they become Vista-certified, this will not work. Those settings will need to be migrated manually. Oh yeah, and for some reason, Project 2003 to Project 2007 doesn’t work yet, either. Technology Industry