I plan to purchase a new laptop. My uses are primarily Internet searching and email. I don’t play videogames. The salespeople are pushing me to buy a fast processor. Will buying a faster processor improve my slow DSL connection?

Compared to your old computer, any new PC, even one with a midrange modern processor and graphics system, plus more modern network components inside, may well be faster at using the Internet. That’s because things like rendering Web pages will likely speed up, and the computer may be better able to take advantage of whatever DSL speed you have entering your home. But even the fastest processor won’t make your DSL connection itself fundamentally speedier. To achieve that, you’d need to pay for faster service from either your current provider or a competitor.

Will my Quicken finances run on a Mac? And how do I transfer, from a Dell PC, my 2007 Quicken data?

There is a version of Quicken for the Mac, and there is a way to export your data from the Windows version and import it into this Mac version. But, because the two programs are actually very different under the hood, this process can be laborious and too often goes wrong. So, for people switching to the Mac who are devoted to Quicken, I suggest installing Windows on your Mac, and continuing to use the Windows version of Quicken. If you’d rather perform the export instead, you can find the instructions at quicken.intuit.com. Click on “Support,” then on “2007 for Mac,” then search for the keyword “convert.”

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Does any PC manufacturer offer an option to order a Windows (MSFT) PC without any extra software preinstalled?

Dell’s XPS models can be ordered without most preloaded third-party software if you are very careful about clicking all the “no” options when ordering online. But you still are likely to find yourself with Dell’s (DELL) own sometimes annoying networking software.

I have two Windows machines, one for work and one for home. Both use Outlook for email. How can I best transfer many emails from the machine at work to the one at home and still be able to read them in Outlook — without forwarding them all?

Outlook has an “Import and Export” function that will allow you to export any of your email folders to, say, a transferable medium such as an external hard disk or flash drive. You can then take this removable medium to the home computer, plug it in, fire up Outlook, and then import the folder you had exported earlier at work. You can find these import and export functions under Outlook’s File menu.

Can Internet Explorer and Firefox 3.0 coexist on the same computer?

Yes. In fact, you can have 2, 3, or 4 different Web browsers installed on the same personal computer, whether Windows or Mac (AAPL). You can even run different browsers simultaneously. For instance, as I type this, I am running IE 7, Firefox 3.0 and Safari 3.0 on the same computer at the same time.

The only slight hassle is that you will have to decide which to designate as the default browser, the one that launches when, say, you click on a link in an email.

• You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the new All Things Digital web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

I am shopping for a new laptop, and noticed that some of the models in which I am interested come with Windows Vista Business edition instead of Home Premium, which I understand is the main consumer version. What would I be missing if I went with the Business version instead?

The main thing Vista Business lacks that Home Premium includes is a series of multimedia features. These include Media Center, which allows you to play songs and videos, and view photos, from across a room. In addition, Home Premium offers Windows Movie Maker software for creating movies, DVD maker, and several games the Business version lacks.

On the other hand, the Business edition has some things Home Premium doesn’t, including built-in programs for doing a complete PC backup, for faxing and scanning, and for remotely running programs on another computer. For the most part, however, Vista Business looks and works like Home Premium.

I just bought a new laptop, and want to transfer to it the Firefox bookmarks I have on my old desktop. How can I do that?

There are a number of possible methods, but here’s a simple, straightforward approach.

First, you export the bookmarks from Firefox on your old desktop PC, which creates a single file containing the bookmarks. Then, you copy that file, which Firefox names by default “bookmarks.html,” to a CD or portable USB drive or some other medium you can use to transfer files between computers. Then, you copy the file to the new laptop. Finally, you import the file into the fresh copy of Firefox on the new laptop.

To carry out this process, you use Firefox’s import and export function for bookmarks. On the first computer, from the Firefox Bookmarks menu, choose “Organize bookmarks.” Then, once the bookmark window opens, go to the File menu and choose “Export.” That will create the bookmarks file. After the file is on the second computer, launch Firefox and repeat the process, only this time choose “Import,” and then click on “From File,” and select the file you brought over.

I have Word 2003 and have just started to receive Word 2007 documents, which I cannot open. What is the best solution?

Word 2007 has a new default file format, called DOCX, that is incompatible with older versions, which rely on the long-standing DOC format. The new version can be set to always save files in the old format, but not everyone knows that or chooses to do so.

However, folks such as you with the 2003 version of Word can install a free “Compatibility Pack” from Microsoft that will allow your copy of Word to read the new format. It can be obtained from the company’s Download Center, at www.microsoft.com/downloads. You’ll find it listed there under “Popular Downloads.”

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Here are a few questions about computers I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about transferring “Favorites” from your laptop to your desktop and converting copy-protected WMA files to play on an iPod.

If you have a question, send it to me at mossberg@wsj.com, and I may select it to be answered here in Mossberg’s Mailbox.

Q: Can you tell me how to transfer the Internet Explorer “Favorite” Web site addresses from my laptop computer to my desktop computer? Both computers are Windows XP.

Just go to the “Import and Export” command in the File menu of Internet Explorer on the laptop — the machine with the Favorites you want to copy. Select “Export Favorites,” and follow the prompts to save your Favorites as a file. You can name it anything you like, and I suggest you save it to your desktop or some other place where you can find it quickly.

Next, copy this file to the desktop computer — the one you want to populate with your Favorites. In Internet Explorer on this second computer, again click on “Import and Export” in the File menu, only this time, select “Import Favorites.” Specify the file you copied over from the first computer, and all the Favorites it contains should now be on the second machine.

Q: In your recent review of the new Apple iMac that uses Intel chips, you briefly said it couldn’t run the Windows operating system out of the box. Can you elaborate on why that is, and whether Windows will be able to run on this computer eventually?

Apple is now using the same chips in this Macintosh that are used in Windows computers, and it says it won’t do anything to stop people from running Windows on these machines. But you can’t just go to the store, buy a copy of Windows XP, and install it on these new Macs.

That’s because Apple is using some advanced hardware, besides the Intel chips, that differs from what’s typical on Windows machines. This hardware, which helps the computer to start up, is called EFI and is approved by Intel. But it isn’t recognized by Windows XP. Microsoft says the forthcoming new version of Windows, called Vista, will recognize the new EFI start-up hardware when it comes out later this year. But nobody is guaranteeing that Vista will run out of the box on the Intel-based Macs, as there may be other peculiarities of the new Macs that it can’t handle.

In addition, Microsoft’s Virtual PC product, which allowed Windows to run — slowly — on the old Macs by mimicking an Intel chip, doesn’t work on the new machines. It would seem that such a program shouldn’t be necessary on the Intel-based Macs, or at least should be simple to create. But Microsoft says revising it for the new machines would be a big, time-consuming job.

However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some other company come up with an add-on product that would allow the new Intel-based Macs to run Windows, or Windows programs, at fast speeds, long before the arrival of Vista or any new version of Virtual PC.

With such a product, you might be able to choose to start up an Intel-based Mac in either Windows or the Mac operating system; or run Windows in a window inside the Mac operating system; or run Windows programs in the Mac operating system, without running Windows itself.

Q: I have purchased a substantial amount of music online through services such as MSN and Yahoo that sell files in the protected WMA format. Is there any way to convert this music so it plays on an iPod?

There is a way, but it’s time-consuming and tedious. You’d have to burn all your copy-protected WMA files (the ones you bought from MSN and Yahoo) to audio CDs — the kind that play in standard CD players — and then re-import them into Apple’s iTunes software as MP3s or nonprotected AAC files, manually filling in the tag information.

The iPod can play MP3 files fine, as well as a number of other formats, like nonprotected AAC files. And iTunes can convert nonprotected WMA files to MP3s for use in the iPod. But iTunes can’t convert copy-protected WMAs, and the iPod can’t play them.

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Because of the volume of e-mail I receive, I can’t routinely answer individual questions by e-mail, or consult on individual problems or purchasing decisions. I read all questions I receive and select three each week to answer in the column.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com