A handheld computing device is used to copy files from the screen of a fixed computer. The display of the handheld device is linked to that of the underlying computer and file and directory icons together with their underlying files are copied to the handheld device. Files from the handheld device can also be transferred to the fixed computer. When a user is running a program on the fixed computer, he may capture the state of that computer and transfer everything needed to permit execution of that program to continue uninterrupted on the handheld device. Thus files and executing programs may be lifted from the fixed computer and used on the handheld device.