I have purchased a new computer. The old computer is Windows ME and
the new one is Windows XP. I can get the old computer to boot up but
it is very cranky.

Is there a simple way to connect the two computers so that I can
selectively copy files to the new computer without having to buy a
utility? I only want to retrieve word files, some spreadsheets, zip
files and songs.

The easyiest way to connect two computers together is first make sure
that they both have a network card (NIC) installed, use a Cat-5e
cross-over cable, and set up file and print sharing on both computers
(make sure the workgroup is the same on both computers).

But if you are only want to copy files from one computer to the other
is probally a lot easier and a lot simpler to use a cd writer and burn
the files to a disk, then put the disk into the cd-rom drive on the
new computer, and just copy the files.

I hope htis helps.