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Getting
a new PC or laptop is great. It should be faster and have more storage space
than your old one, and might even have a newer version of Windows (see Windows
10 review) - while at the same time removing all the clutter that will
undoubtedly have accumulated on the old PC. Here we'll show you how to set up a
new PC or laptop and transfer documents, photos, movies and music from your old
PC.
Sadly
the new PC won’t come with all your favourite software, nor will all the
settings be just as you like them, so we'll explain how to install applications
and transfer settings. Plus, we'll explain a great backup strategy so that all
this good work isn’t lost should you suffer a disk failure. If you need some
help connecting all the wires on a desktop PC, we have a step-by-step guide: How
to set up a new PC
Set
up a new PC or laptop: Power on
The
first time you turn on a Windows 10 PC things will be a bit different from your
old PC with Windows 7 or earlier. To begin with you’ll have to go through the first-time
setup process.
Specifically,
you’ll have to select your region and language, agree to the licence terms,
personalise the colour scheme, choose a name for your PC, maybe choose a Wi-Fi
network, decide whether to accept the so-called “express settings” or
customise, and either log in to your Microsoft account, skip the step or, if
you’re happy to, create a new Microsoft account.
If
you use other PCs this is a major advantage since, whenever you log in, all
your saved preferences will be retrieved and everything will look exactly as it
does on your home PC.
Set
up a new PC or laptop: Remove bloatware
In
all probability, your new machine will come preloaded with all sorts of
software that you won't want. Some of it might just be useful but, for most
people, the phrase “bloatware” is a good description because these trial
programs use up space on your hard disk and might slow down your PC.
So,
first of all, take a good look at what’s already installed. To do this, click
the Windows logo, then the cog icon, then System, then Apps. Now, make a
critical judgement on what you really need.
Certainly
you should make sure your new PC is protected from malicious software but the
trial version that came pre-loaded might not be the best bet and you might
decide, for example, that the free AVG Antivirus software which can be
installed via Ninite (see below) would serve you better.
When
you’ve decided what to delete (and if you’re unsure of something it’s best to
take the safe approach of not uninstalling it), head to the Control Panel (just
type Control Panel from the Start Screen), select Programs and then Uninstall a
program. Now, one at a time, select the programs you want to uninstall from the
list of installed software and click on Uninstall.
Set
up a new PC or laptop: Install apps with Ninite
We’ll
show you how toinstall individual applications below – either new software or
stuff you’d installed on your old PC – but, to set the ball rolling, it would
be well worth using Ninite. This useful utility allows you to install your
choice of several commonly used free packages and utilities in a single go. The
website lists over 90 packages in 13 categories but, to give you an idea of the
sort of thing that’s included, you can select alternative web browsers, compression/decompression
utilities, free graphics packages, media players, anti-virus software, and even
the OpenOffice suite.
Just
make your choice by clicking on the check boxes, download the installer and run
it to install everything automatically in the background. What’s more, if you
run it again later, Ninite will check if any of your packages have been update,
installing the latest version only if necessary.
Convenient
as it may be, though, don’t be tempted to select stuff that you’re probably not
going to use. After all, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to rid your new PC with
bloatware, only to then add a load more unwanted software.
Set
up a new PC or laptop: Install individual programs
Ninite
might be good for installing a good selection of utilities and free packages,
but if you have expensive software on CD that you bought for your old PC and
which you use regularly, you’ll probably want to install it on your new PC.
Here we’re thinking primarily of large productivity applications such as
Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop. The good news is that your licence will
almost certainly allow you to install it on your new PC, so long as you don’t
also continue to use it on your old machine, and most old software will be
compatible with Windows 8.1. If you’ve lost the licence key then the software
won’t install on your new PC but, fortunately, even if you can’t find the
necessary documentation, there may still be a solution. Magical Jellybean and
Belarc Advisor are free utilities that are able to extract the licence key from
many (but not all) popular packages. Run the utility on your old PC to discover
the necessary keys before attempting to re-install the software on your new PC.
In
addition to what you’ve been able to install via Ninite and any software that
you’ve re-installed from CD, there may be other software that you’d like on
your new machine, much of it free. For example, if you hadn’t formerly bought
Microsoft Office but want a means of creating textual documents, spreadsheets,
presentations and more, why not look at the free LibreOffice which even
provides compatibility with Microsoft file formats. Alternatively, if you’re
happy to work in the cloud, why not give Google Docs a try. Similarly, if you
don’t want to shell out on an expensive commercial package for photo
manipulation, the online PicMonkey may well do the trick.
In
addition to conventional applications and on-line services, Windows 10 also has
its own app store: the Windows Store. The Windows Store icon (the white carrier
bag with a Windows logo) is right there on the task bar at the bottom.
Set
up a new PC or laptop: Tweak settings
Windows
10 comes with quite a few new apps which are the defaults for playing music,
viewing photos, emailing and more. On the whole, the old ones are still there
and you can make them the defaults if you decide you don't like Groove, Photos,
Mail and the other new apps.
To
do that, go to the Control Panel, then Programs and finally Set Your Default
Programs. Now, from the list of programs, individually select Windows Media
Player and Windows Photo Viewer and, for reach, click on Set this program as
default.
You
can also customise the new-style Start menu, pinning your favourite programs
not just to the list, but also as a tile on the right-hand side. We explain how
to do this in our Customise your Windows 10 Start menu guide.
Set
up a new PC or laptop: Transfer files over from the old PC / laptop
You’ll
certainly want to transfer your various documents, music, videos and photos
from your old PC and the easiest way to do that is via Windows Easy Transfer.
This utility must be present on both your old and new PCs and although it was
only shipped as standard with Windows 7 and 8, if you’re transferring from a
Windows XP or Vista machine you can download Windows Easy Transfer for free.
The
utility allows you to transfer via a special cable, an external drive or a
network – the external drive approach will be the easiest and, if you have to
buy the necessary disk, you can also use it for regular backups which are highly
recommended as we discus in the next section.
It
might be tempting to copy everything to your new PC but that’s not necessarily
the best approach as this is an ideal time to remove some clutter. Do a good
spring clean by copying only the folders you really need and even deleting
unwanted files from those folders you do decide to keep. Remember to check the
Downloads folder though, as there might be some stuff there you need but be
sure to avoid copying across the accumulated junk such as installation files
for old versions of software that you’ve downloaded.
How
to set up a new PC: Sort out a backup strategy from the get-go
Having
spent all this time getting your new PC setup exactly as you like it, it would
be a shame if you had a disk crash or other mishap and all this hard work was
lost. The secret is to make an image of your disk on an external USB drive, a
networked drive or a stack of DVDs, that you can restore from later. Several
third-party tools (Acronis True Image) are well respected or you could use the
built-in Windows 10 facility which appears as “System Image Backup” in the
bottom left corner of the File History window which is accessible from the
Control Panel.
If
you do ever have to recreate your system from a system image backup, everything
will be restored to exactly as it was when you made the system image. In other
words, if the image was made immediately after you’d finished setting up your
new system, any documents that were created or downloaded subsequently will be
missing. For this reason, you also need to create regular backups of your
files. Windows 10’s File History also permits this, allowing you to make
regular copies, to an external USB or networked drive, of all the files in your
libraries, desktop, contacts and favourites.
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