Gray Headed Grandpa needs help (and patience)

[bsgranpa]

Ok, my wife got an IPhone a couple of years ago and loves it. My daughter hooked it up with my wife's Sony Viao which subsequently was stolen. I bought her a new PC with Windows XP Pro but have yet to sync to it because I heard that she would lose everything when she plugged it in. I have never used ITunes and am monumentally unfamiliar with it. Now, to top it all off, I bought my wife a gift card for a new IPhone 3GS (the white one, not sure if that matters). So, if some kind (and experienced) person will help. I would appreciate a step-by-step approach to how to proceed. I have ITunes installed, I have Outlook Express set-up, I just don't know how to get her photos, music, contacts, email, Safari Bookmarks, apps, etc. onto the new computer and then onto the new phone. So, here we are, waiting to go to the Apple store but frozen in ignorance afraid that we are going to do the wrong thing. I tried to explain all this to the person at the Apple store but walked away with no clear idea what they were saying. Thanks in advance for any help. Just pretend you are talking to your old Grandpa who doesn't understand much tech speech.

[danipoak]

Not sure if this is done exactly the same on Windows XP but I am sure it is very similar. On an Apple computer in iTunes I click on the "store" pull down menu and click on Authorize computer. From there I would input my iTunes account name and password (the one the phone is snyced with). That should allow you to sync the phone without losing anything. Someone needs to confirm this before you actually do it though. Just know that there is a way to do this so don't rush into anything without knowing for sure.