How To Set Up A New Hp Laptop Computer

Then yous've got a new computer. Awesome! That humble metal box is the key to a wide earth of potential. Information technology tin help you with everything from juggling your finances to keeping in impact with your family to blowing off some steam on, uh, Steam.

Only a new PC isn't like a new car; you lot tin can't just turn a key and put the pedal to the metal. Okay, maybe you lot can—simply you lot shouldn't. Performing just a few simple activities when you lot first fire information technology up tin assist it be safer, faster, and meliorate poised for the future. Hither's how to gear up a new laptop or desktop computer the right style, footstep past pace.

Run Windows Update on your new PC

The kickoff step is by far the most tedious. You lot shouldn't muck effectually on the web unless your copy of Windows is fully patched and up to date, period. Now for the bad news: Depending on how long your PC sat on the retail shelf, this could take minutes—or hours. Either way, it has to get done.

Microsoft releases new Windows patches at to the lowest degree once per month. The well-nigh recent "major" upgrade for the operating system came in the form of the deadening Windows 10 November 2022 Update; those larger "milestone" releases occurred twice per year in the past, merely will ho-hum to i per year in the future. Windows 11, on the other hand, simply launched in October, so laptops with that installed should exist pretty current. If your computer isn't fully patched, y'all could exist missing key security fixes and notable new features.

windows update — Keep updating Windows until it says you lot're all caught up.

Outset, make sure your PC'due south continued to the cyberspace. In Windows ten, open the Start bill of fare and head to Settings>Update and security >Check for Updates. Your system will search for updates, and find some. Download and install them, then reboot your computer and do it once more… and again… and once again… until the update check fails to return new entries. Hopefully it won't take besides long, only in worst-case scenarios updating a new computer tin accept an 60 minutes or more than.

On the bright side, Windows will download and install new updates equally they roll out in the hereafter. You just accept to get over this initial hump!

If your new laptop came with Windows x installed, you may see the pick to upgrade to Windows 11. Nosotros recommend skipping Windows 11 for now. At that place's not simply a new interface to learn, but the fresh-out-of-the-oven operating system besides has multiple rough edges and outright bugs in these early days. Feel gratis to read our exhaustive Windows eleven review and decide for yourself if it'south offered, though.

Install your favorite browser

Surfing the spider web in an unfamiliar browser is like trying to tango while yous're wearing someone else'south shoes. It tin can be done, only it ain't pretty. Here are direct links for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera if Border isn't your affair.

Chrome has been our become-to choice for years, but the Chromium-based version of Microsoft's Border upset the long-time champion in our about recent circular of web browser testing. Border is the best browser you can use correct at present if you don't heed breaking away from Chrome, and better nevertheless, information technology's Windows ten'due south default. If your tastes lean more exotic, you could always fiddle with 1 of these ten obscure, highly specialized browsers, likewise.

Fix up your new PC's security

At present that you've slipped into something more comfortable, it's time to get your security ducks in a row.

Windows ships with Windows Security enabled by default unless your laptop or desktop includes a 3rd-party antivirus trial. Windows Security is a solid, if non overly detailed solution that'southward expressionless-simple to utilise, bang-up at sniffing out malware, and probably good plenty for near people. It isn't the most full-featured anti-malware solution out in that location, though. Y'all can't even schedule scans! PCWorld's guide to the all-time antivirus for Windows PCs tin assist you find all the right tools to proceed your PC protected.

We also take a guide to building a solid free security suite, just it takes more than legwork and hassle than premium antivirus options.

Clean your computer's bloatware

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

You can skip this step if you built your own Windows PC. Straight Windows installations don't come with excess junk cluttering up your hard drive. Simply boxed PCs from big-proper noun PC makers are inevitably brimming with bloatware.

The easiest way to jettison the junk is past typing "Add and remove programs" into the Windows search box, then selecting the selection that appears at the meridian of the results. Go through the list and uninstall any unwanted programs. Don't delete apps from your hardware's makers—get out software from the likes of Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Microsoft, and HP or Lenovo lone, for example—just feel complimentary to wipe out any bundleware yous see. Some of the well-nigh commonly preinstalled apps are antivirus trials, Dropbox, Candy Beat out, Netflix, Spotify, "App Collections," and others.

If you'd rather nuke everything from above, Microsoft likewise offers a downloadable tool that installs a clean copy of the virtually recent version of Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro but without any apps that aren't part of Microsoft's default Windows 10 setup. It seriously doesn't mess around, equally Microsoft drives home in the tool'south description: "Using this tool will remove all apps that don't come standard with Windows, including other Microsoft apps such as Function. It will also remove most pre-installed apps, including manufacturer apps, support apps, and drivers."

This tool will wipe out whatever product keys or digital licenses associated with that software too, so if you lot desire to keep some of the software existence blasted away (like Office, say), be certain to jot downward the product primal earlier using Microsoft'southward fresh-start tool, using something like Belarc Advisor to find it.

Fill your new computer with software

Why would y'all scrap all that junk and clutter? To make room for your own stuff, giddy. New hardware just begs for software to match!

Outfitting your rig is an intensely personal affair, merely if you're looking for suggestions, PCWorld has a guide to the best free programs that are so helpful, so handy, so downrightuseful that they should be welcome on pretty much whatever PC. These review roundups and software guides can also direct you towards some of the all-time programs around:

The best complimentary Microsoft Office alternatives
5 free Windows power tools nosotros tin't live without
The best password managers
The all-time PDF editors
7 costless programs every PC gamer needs
The all-time VPNs
5 gratuitous Photoshop alternatives for Windows
How to play DVDs in Windows 10 for complimentary

Head towards Ninite when it comes time to really install all that software. Ninite lets you install numerous free applications of your selection all at once, fifty-fifty going so far every bit to automatically disable the bundled crapware that many free programs try to sneak in equally part of the installation process. It's a wonderfully handy tool that takes the hurting out of loading upwardly a new PC.

If your new laptop came with Windows 11 preinstalled, you might be uncomfortable with its radical new Commencement menu and taskbar pattern. Consider checking out StartAllBack or Stardock'southward Start11 if so. Both of these $5 programs help y'all reconfigure the look and feel of Windows 11 in ways the operating organisation itself doesn't. You lot tin can have information technology dorsum to feeling normal in no time.

Back up your new computer

Subsequently all that, your PC is finally prepare to rock: It's safe, up to date, scrubbed free of junk, and full of software fine-tuned to come across your specific needs. The end is in sight! But we're not washed juuuuuust yet.

At present that your PC'southward in fighting shape it'southward an ideal fourth dimension to create a clone or epitome of your primary hard bulldoze—the i Windows boots from—and relieve it to another hard drive. A clone or prototype creates a snapshot replica of your drive, which yous can apply to boot up Windows if your principal drive gives upwardly the ghost. Having an paradigm of your system in its current updated, bloatware costless, customized state prevents you lot from having to do all that legwork over once more if yous ever accept to reinstall Windows for whatsoever reason.

So what's the difference betwixt a clone and an image? Essentially, a clone creates an exact copy of your hard drive on another drive—files, master boot record, and all. The clone consumes the entire difficult drive, but it'south plug-and-play if you ever need to use it. Images, on the other hand, create a single, mammoth file containing all the stuff on your PC. It takes a bit more than work to get an image backup ready to curl afterwards a disaster, but you take more than flexibility in how yous store it, since it'southward essentially only a great big file. Lincoln Spector has a more than detailed comparing if you're interested.

There are excellent fill-in tools available that permit you create clones and images, which we cover in particular in PCWorld'south roundups of the best Windows backup software and best online fill-in services. Don't desire to pay for data protection? Nosotros've also rounded up the best free backup options, and if you don't listen performing more technical gruntwork to save some cash, we explain how to use Windows' native imaging tool pace-by-step in PCWorld's guide to creating a free, foolproof backup system. Use something though. Regular backups are your data'due south only savior if disaster strikes.

Optional: Update your new PC's drivers

This step isn't for everyone. Few things tin can introduce troublesome ghosts in your machine faster than a driver that refuses to play nice for whatever reason. If your from-the-box desktop PC is working fine and y'all only ever plan to perform bones tasks like surfing the spider web, working with Office, and stuff like that, experience complimentary to forget your calculator fifty-fifty has drivers and proceed on keeping on. Windows Update should've snagged reasonably new drivers for your hardware anyhow.

device manager update — Y'all'll spend some time staring at the Device Managing director if you congenital your own PC and need to update your drivers manually.

But if you cobbled together a DIY rig or are rocking a gaming car, it's a good idea to see if newer drivers are available for your hardware. Windows Update isn't ever on the bleeding edge of driver updates, and new drivers for, say, your motherboard or network card can provide beneficial characteristic and performance updates. Gamers will need to update their graphics carte du jour drivers adequately often to ensure optimal performance in the newest games. (Fortunately, you can do that hands using Nvidia and AMD's must-take graphics suites, and they'll allow yous know when new ones are available.)

PCWorld's guide to updating your Windows drivers has all the info y'all need to proceed. It was written for Windows 8, but if you search for Device Director in Windows 10 or xi, all of the same steps outlined in the article still utilise. If a driverdoes somehow manage to bork your PC, fearfulness non, every bit Windows automatically creates a System Restore Bespeak when you install new device drivers.

And iftruthful disaster strikes in some bizarre, extreme example, you've got the backup image you lot've created—right?

Optional: Learn about your new figurer

Now that all the difficult work is washed, accept time to learn all the nooks and crannies of Windows—there's an awful lot of surprisingly powerful, downrighthelpful tools and tricks hidden in its depths. Check out PCWorld's guide to the best Windows ten tips, tools, and tricks, which we update with every major Windows update. You'll choice upwardly a lot of helpful knowledge. We've besides got a roundup of Windows 11's all-time hidden features.

Wrap-upwardly

At this signal you're pretty much prepare to scroll. Sure, there are some other tasks you should perform, such as moving over files from your old PC and saving the production keys for Windows and your other installed software (once more, Belarc Advisor rocks for that), but you can do all that at your leisure. For at present, just enjoy in the glory of owning a new PC, secure in the knowledge that it's fully optimized, protected against attack, and recoverable if disaster strikes.

Enjoy!

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