Easy Transfer Cable or not? Geek Squad help or not?

So the new Vista computer is going to get here this week or next week, and I don't have a clue how to EASILY transfer my documents and settings from this computer onto the new one... I read about an Easy Transfer cable, but it gets a very solid 3-stars. There are the exact same number of people who rate it 5 stars because it works perfectly as there are who rate it 1 star because it won't work at all.

I just spent $35 on a 16GB flash drive. I know all of my My Documents files will fit on that, but is that a good enough way to move all of my documents over to the new computer? I'll still need to move over my Internet Explorer Favorites and my Outlook contacts, but I already read how to do that. But is that good enough? And if not, why not?

I guess what I'll do is keep both computers running for a week or so before retiring this one to the garage. That way if I find something else that I need off of it then it'll be easy to retrieve it. (That is IF this one can survive for that long).

Also... what to do about this computer and the one in the garage? Do I take them both to Geek Squad. I want the hard drive on the one in the garage erased. Only problem is that I'm not sure I have the right XP re-install CD (I found one, but I think it's for this computer--I'll just have to find out). I called about having the hard drive wiped out and it's $129 which is pretty steep considering there's "KillDrive" software "out there" for free. I just don't know how to go about re-installing the disks, though, once it's wiped clean. So I guess $129 is a fair price when it comes to idiots like me.

And, then, how much should I pay to have this piece o' crap worked on? I checked out their fee schedule, and it can get expensive pretty quickly: a diagnostic is $69; a check-up is $99 (what's the difference???). Oh! I just found what I need: "The Diagnostic and Repair" which will fix any operating system issues such as blue screens; that's $199. Ouch!