You say "I will lose a lot of photos", but don't despair of them yet! If you are buying a new computer, it may be (proabably is) the case that the hard disk in the old machine is still in working order as far as reading files is concerned, even though it doesn't work any more as a system disk. Much depends on how competent you feel about opening the cases of the two machines. You could do as I did when faced with a comparable situation, and install your old disk in the new machine as a slave, though you may need a cable that will connect to both disks if it doesn't already have one. You will also have to move the jumper on the old disk to make it work as slave instead of master. When you restart the computer, it should recognise both drives straight away, allowing you access to all your old files. Another approach would be to buy an external disk caddy, in which you fit your old disk (leaving the jumper set to master) and plug it into a USB port on your new machine. You will still be able to see your old files, though the transfer speed is likely to be slower. If all else fails, do you have any knowledgeable friends who could help you with fitting the old disk onto the new computer? Maybe someone you know already has a caddy and would let you borrow it or use it on his/her machine. I do suggest, however, that you scan the old disk, as soon as you get to see it again in "My Computer" or Windows Explorer, with an up-to-date virus checker, just in case! I wish you success - it certainly worked well for me!

Paulito, If all else fails, you can remove your hard drive, and put it in an external USB 2.0 drive case, and remove any files, and programs you want. Using another computer, you can burn to CD, or move them to another hard drive. Works very well.

Thanks very much to you both! I really appreciate the help.

The technical information in both of these posts is beyond my understanding; however, I could, with someone's help, remove the hard drive and get information from it.  This would  be the best solution, since I do not actually need the old computer now.

Quoted from pendulum144 Paulito, If all else fails, you can remove your hard drive, and put it in an external USB 2.0 drive case, and remove any files, and programs you want. Using another computer, you can burn to CD, or move them to another hard drive. Works very well.

Thanks.  Checking into this further, I found where I can buy the case.  Since that computer is a few years old, can I assume that the 2.5 inch case would hold the hard disk?  It is much less expensive than the 3.5 inch one.

My sons can help me figure out how to remove the hard drive.

Thanks for patience with the computer illiterate.  

OK, today I have the time, so this will be Computer Moron Attacks Old Computer Day.  We even have some older ones taking up space, and hopefully I can remove hard drives and get rid of all the rest.

QUESTION:  What is the best way to get data from extremely old floppies?  Not the hard, 3.5 inch ones, but the large, flexible disks used in stone age computers.

Thanks to all who posted help in this thread.