So you’ve obtained a brand new pc. Awesome! That humble steel field is the important thing to a large world of potential. It may also help you with every thing from juggling your funds to preserving in contact with your loved ones to blowing off some steam on, uh, Steam.

But a brand new PC isn’t like a brand new automotive; you’ll be able to’t simply flip a key and put the pedal to the steel. Okay, perhaps you can—however you shouldn’t. Performing just some easy actions whenever you first hearth it up may also help it’s safer, sooner, and higher poised for the longer term. Here’s learn how to arrange a new laptop or desktop pc the fitting manner, step-by-step.

Run Windows Update in your new PC

The first step is by far probably the most tedious. You shouldn’t muck round on the net until your copy of Windows is absolutely patched and updated, interval. Now for the dangerous information: Depending on how lengthy your PC sat on the retail shelf, this might take minutes—or hours. Either manner, it has to get accomplished.

Microsoft releases new Windows patches at the least as soon as per thirty days. The most up-to-date “major” improve for the working system got here within the type of the ho-hum Windows 10 November 2021 Update; these bigger “milestone” releases occurred twice per 12 months prior to now, however will sluggish to at least one per 12 months sooner or later. Windows 11, however, simply launched in October, so laptops with that put in needs to be fairly present. If your pc isn’t absolutely patched, you could possibly be lacking key safety fixes and notable new options.

First, ensure your PC’s linked to the web. In Windows 10, open the Start menu and head to Settings > Update and safety > Check for Updates. Your system will seek for updates, and discover some. Download and set up them, then reboot your pc and do it once more… and once more… and once more… till the replace test fails to return new entries. Hopefully it gained’t take too lengthy, however in worst-case eventualities updating a brand new pc can take an hour or extra.

On the intense facet, Windows will obtain and set up new updates as they roll out sooner or later. You simply must recover from this preliminary hump!

If your new laptop computer got here with Windows 10 put in, you may even see the choice to improve to Windows 11. We recommend skipping Windows 11 for now. There’s not solely a brand new interface to study, however the fresh-out-of-the-oven working system additionally has a number of tough edges and outright bugs in these early days. Feel free to learn our exhaustive Windows 11 review and determine for your self if it’s provided, although.

Install your favourite browser

Surfing the online in an unfamiliar browser is like attempting to tango whilst you’re sporting another person’s sneakers. It may be accomplished, however it ain’t fairly. Here are direct hyperlinks for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera if Edge isn’t your factor.

Chrome has been our go-to decide for years, however the Chromium-based model of Microsoft’s Edge upset the long-time champion in our most recent round of web browser testing. Edge is one of the best browser you should utilize proper now for those who don’t thoughts breaking away from Chrome, and higher but, it’s Windows 10’s default. If your tastes lean extra unique, you could possibly at all times dabble with one in every of these 10 obscure, highly specialized browsers, too.

Set up your new PC’s safety

Now that you just’ve slipped into one thing extra snug, it’s time to get your safety geese in a row.

Windows ships with Windows Security enabled by default until your laptop computer or desktop features a third-party antivirus trial. Windows Security is a strong, if not overly detailed resolution that’s dead-simple to make use of, nice at sniffing out malware, and doubtless adequate for most individuals. It isn’t probably the most full-featured anti-malware resolution on the market, although. You can’t even schedule scans! PCWorld’s information to the best antivirus for Windows PCs may also help you discover all the fitting instruments to maintain your PC protected. 

We even have a information to constructing a strong free security suite, however it takes extra legwork and problem than premium antivirus choices.

Clean your pc’s bloatware

With your defenses up, it’s time to begin shoveling the crap out of your PC.

You can skip this step for those who constructed your personal Windows PC. Straight Windows installations don’t include extra junk cluttering up your laborious drive. But boxed PCs from big-name PC makers are inevitably brimming with bloatware.

The best method to jettison the junk is by typing “Add and remove programs” into the Windows search field, then deciding on the choice that seems on the prime of the outcomes. Go by the record and uninstall any undesirable applications. Don’t delete apps out of your {hardware}’s makers—depart software program from the likes of Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Microsoft, and HP or Lenovo alone, for instance—however be at liberty to wipe out any bundleware you see. Some of probably the most generally preinstalled apps are antivirus trials, Dropbox, Candy Crush, Netflix, Spotify, “App Collections,” and others.

If you’d relatively nuke every thing from above, Microsoft additionally provides a downloadable tool that installs a clear copy of the latest model of Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro however with out any apps that aren’t a part of Microsoft’s default Windows 10 setup. It significantly doesn’t fiddle, as Microsoft drives residence within the instrument’s description: “Using this tool will take away all apps that don’t come commonplace with Windows, together with different Microsoft apps comparable to Office. It may even take away most pre-installed apps, together with producer apps, help apps, and drivers.”

This instrument will wipe out any product keys or digital licenses related to that software program too, so if you wish to hold among the software program being blasted away (like Office, say), you’ll want to jot down the product key earlier than utilizing Microsoft’s fresh-start instrument, utilizing one thing like Belarc Advisor to seek out it. 

Fill your new pc with software program

Why would you scrap all that junk and litter? To make room on your personal stuff, foolish. New {hardware} simply begs for software program to match!

Outfitting your rig is an intensely private affair, however for those who’re searching for ideas, PCWorld has a information to the best free programs which are so useful, so useful, so downright helpful that they need to be welcome on just about any PC. These evaluate roundups and software program guides also can direct you in direction of among the greatest applications round:

Head in direction of Ninite when it comes time to really set up all that software program. Ninite allows you to set up quite a few free functions of your alternative suddenly, even going as far as to robotically disable the bundled crapware that many free applications attempt to sneak in as a part of the set up course of. It’s a splendidly useful instrument that takes the ache out of loading up a brand new PC.

If your new laptop computer got here with Windows 11 preinstalled, you is likely to be uncomfortable with its radical new Start menu and taskbar design. Consider trying out StartAllBack or Stardock’s Start11 in that case. Both of those $5 applications enable you to reconfigure the appear and feel of Windows 11 in methods the working system itself doesn’t. You can have it again to feeling regular very quickly.

Back up your new pc

After all that, your PC is lastly able to rock: It’s secure, updated, scrubbed freed from junk, and filled with software program fine-tuned to satisfy your particular wants. The finish is in sight! But we’re not accomplished juuuuuust but.

Now that your PC’s in preventing form it’s a perfect time to create a clone or picture of your main laborious drive—the one Windows boots from—and put it aside to a different laborious drive. A clone or picture creates a snapshot duplicate of your drive, which you should utilize besides up Windows in case your main drive provides up the ghost. Having a picture of your system in its present up to date, bloatware free, personalized state prevents you from having to do all that legwork over once more for those who ever must reinstall Windows for any cause.

So what’s the distinction between a clone and a picture? Essentially, a clone creates a precise copy of your laborious drive on one other drive—recordsdata, grasp boot file, and all. The clone consumes the whole laborious drive, however it’s plug-and-play for those who ever want to make use of it. Images, however, create a single, mammoth file containing all of the stuff in your PC. It takes a bit extra work to get a picture backup able to roll after a catastrophe, however you could have extra flexibility in the way you retailer it, because it’s primarily only a nice huge file. Lincoln Spector has a more detailed comparison for those who’re .

There are wonderful backup instruments accessible that allow you to create clones and pictures, which we cowl intimately in PCWorld’s roundups of the best Windows backup software and best online backup services. Don’t wish to pay for information safety? We’ve additionally rounded up the best free backup options, and for those who don’t thoughts performing extra technical gruntwork to avoid wasting money, we clarify learn how to use Windows’ native imaging instrument step-by-step in PCWorld’s information to creating a free, foolproof backup system. Use one thing although. Regular backups are your information’s solely savior if catastrophe strikes.

Optional: Update your new PC’s drivers

This step isn’t for everybody. Few issues can introduce troublesome ghosts in your machine sooner than a driver that refuses to play good for no matter cause. If your from-the-box desktop PC is working fantastic and also you solely ever plan to carry out fundamental duties like browsing the online, working with Office, and stuff like that, be at liberty to neglect your pc even has drivers and carry on preserving on. Windows Update ought to’ve snagged fairly new drivers on your {hardware} anyway.

But for those who cobbled collectively a DIY rig or are rocking a gaming machine, it’s a good suggestion to see if newer drivers can be found on your {hardware}. Windows Update isn’t at all times on the bleeding fringe of driver updates, and new drivers for, say, your motherboard or community card can present useful characteristic and efficiency updates. Gamers might want to replace their graphics card drivers pretty usually to make sure optimum efficiency within the latest video games. (Fortunately, you are able to do that simply utilizing Nvidia and AMD’s must-have graphics suites, they usually’ll let you recognize when new ones can be found.)

PCWorld’s information to updating your Windows drivers has all the information you must proceed. It was written for Windows 8, however for those who seek for Device Manager in Windows 10 or 11, the entire similar steps outlined within the article nonetheless apply. If a driver does in some way handle to bork your PC, concern not, as Windows robotically creates a System Restore Point whenever you set up new machine drivers.

And if true catastrophe strikes in some weird, excessive case, you’ve obtained the backup picture you’ve created—proper?

Optional: Learn about your new pc

Now that every one the laborious work is completed, take time to study all of the nooks and crannies of Windows—there’s an terrible lot of surprisingly highly effective, downright useful instruments and methods hidden in its depths. Check out PCWorld’s information to the greatest Windows 10 tips, tools, and tricks, which we replace with each main Windows replace. You’ll decide up plenty of useful data. We’ve additionally obtained a roundup of Windows 11’s best hidden features.

Wrap-up

At this level you’re just about able to roll. Sure, there are another duties it’s best to carry out, comparable to transferring over recordsdata out of your outdated PC and saving the product keys for Windows and your different put in software program (once more, Belarc Advisor rocks for that), however you are able to do all that at your leisure. For now, simply bask within the glory of proudly owning a brand new PC, safe within the data that it’s absolutely optimized, protected in opposition to assault, and recoverable if catastrophe strikes.

Enjoy!