Patent ID: 7783674

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: transferring information between a source computer and a target computer, wherein the information on the source computer includes an information item, the information item comprising a first set of sub-items each representing settings on the source computer to configure an aspect of a plurality of aspects of the source computer; wherein each setting on the source computer has a type comprising at least one of hardware settings used to configure hardware on the source computer, user specific settings input by a user of the source computer or software specific settings used to configure a software application on the source computer, and the target computer comprising a second set of sub-items each representing settings on the target computer to configure an aspect of the plurality of aspects of the target computer; the transferring comprising: receiving at the target computer, at least one sub-item from the first set of sub-items in the source computer; at the target computer, determining the type of the received sub-item on the source computer; and at the target computer determining whether a sub-item from said first set is referenced in a repository database stored on the target computer, wherein the repository database specifies actions with respect to referenced sub-items; selectively replacing a selected sub-item from the second set of sub-items with the received sub-item, while leaving one or more sub-items in the second set of sub-items unchanged, the selectively replacing being based on the determined type of the received sub-item, wherein: the selected sub-item configures the same aspect of the plurality of aspects as the received sub-item; when the sub-item from the first set is referenced in the repository database, selectively replacing comprises taking the actions specified by said repository database; and when the sub-item from the first set is not referenced in the repository database, selectively replacing comprises: when the received sub-item has a type comprising hardware settings, not replacing the selected sub-item from the second set of sub-items with the received sub-item, when the received sub-item has a type comprising user specific settings, replacing the selected sub-item from the second set of sub-items with the received sub-item, and when the received sub-item has a type comprising software specific settings, replacing the selected sub-item from the second set of sub-items with the received sub-item when a software application from the source computer associated with the received sub-item is transferred to the target computer, and not replacing the selected sub-item from the second set of sub-items with the received sub-item when the software application is not transferred to the target computer.