To celebrate its 25th birthday, the good folks at Laplink are offering PC Mover for free, for today and today only.

Valued at $50, PC Mover is one of the most useful utilities
I've encountered in recent years. PC Mover is file transfer software unlike any you've likely seen before. It doesn't just move your data files and your program settings from one computer to another, it moves all your applications, too, which means no reinstalling Office, transferring your email software, or even reloading Photoshop. You can move from XP to XP, Vista to Vista, or even XP to Vista. In fact, it supports operating systems all the way back to Windows 95.

In my testing (see full review here), PC Mover worked flawlessly. While some commenters suggested using free cloning software when I wrote my review, that's missing the idea behind PC Mover: Cloning software creates an identical copy of your hard drive, while PC Mover takes everything and puts it on a new PC while leaving what's already on that PC intact. That's a blessing if you have a different operating system on the new computer, and it's critical if, say, you're jumping from a Dell laptop to an HP. Overwriting all the drivers on your new computer (as you'd do with a clone) is a surefire way to make it stop working. PC Mover, however, keeps all those system files intact.

The deal is good only for Thursday, May 15, midnight to midnight, Eastern Daylight Time. Even if you don't need PC Mover right now, it's a great idea to download a copy and keep it handy for when you do jump to a new PC. I know I'm grabbing a copy!

P.S. Laplink also promises other product giveaways today, including free laptops, so check it out at laplink.com!

UPDATE: Site is really slow right now. I'm checking with Laplink to see if they'll be extending the offer to compensate. 

NEW UPDATE: Laplink tells me the offer will be extended through Friday so those of you who couldn't get through today due to the crush of traffic will be able to take advantage of it.