Unlike most electronic devices, which you can plug in and use instantly, PCs–particularly those with Windows–need some adjustment before they’re ready for everyday use.

1. December 30, 2011
batteryfast.co.uk
What Everybody Ought to Know About
New PCs (I)
What Everybody Ought to Know However, right out of the box, no computer is per-
About New PCs (I) fect. Unlike most electronic devices, which you can
plug in and use instantly, Windows PCs need some
CloudTags: New , PC , computer , technology , laptop adjustment before they’re ready for everyday use.
batteries , 484170-001 battery , Toshiba pa3534u- You need to make your new system safe, and per-
1brs batteries , Samsung nc10 sonalize it with your own preferences. There are
programs on the hard drive you should get rid of,
What Everybody Ought to Know About and other things you should add immediately. If
New PCs (II) you haven’t yet been introduced to Windows 7, or
it’s been a while since you’ve set up a new machine,
Unlike most electronic devices, which you can plug we’ll walk you through it all in these 12 simple steps.
in and use instantly, PCs–particularly those with If your new baby is a Mac, you’ve got a much shorter
Windows–need some adjustment before they’re to-do list.
ready for everyday use.
1. First Start
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After you’ve devised clever ways to use your new
collection of Styrofoam and made the basic initial
connections (power, monitor, Ethernet, keyboard
and mouse), Windows 7 will ask you to do various
things, like set your language, time zone, and clock
and calendar. Perhaps most important request is to
create a user account and password; forgo this only
if you’re 110 percent sure no one else will want to
gain access to this PC, ever, or if you’re so dull-as-
dishwater that it wouldn’t matter. For a computer
that will have multiple users, this is a must.
2. De-bloat the System
Big-name system vendors typically install software
on their consumer PCs at the factory. These “ex-
tras” go by many names: bundleware, begware,
bloatware, shovelware, and perhaps the most ac-
curate, crapware. That’s because a lot of it is just
Did you receive a pristine, mintWindows 7 compu- that: useless crap. The vendors install it under the
ter this holiday season? Congratulations! I wish I guise of helping you out, but mostly they do it to get
could say you’re ready to go. money from the software makers. The major system
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2. December 30, 2011
batteryfast.co.uk
What Everybody Ought to Know About New PCs (I)
builders are reducing the amount of extra software 3. Activate Shields
(or at least making sure it doesn’t appear all over
your system), but there is a long way to go. You’re
pretty much guaranteed to find extra per-loaded
software on a retail-bought consumer system, less
so on a business-oriented one.
What can you do to decrapify your new PC? Down-
load and run the free SlimComputer or PC Decra-
pifier. Or try both. SlimComputer promises to use
community-sourced info to find stuff you don’t want.
Either will get rid of most of the crap. If you find
more crapplications left behind, try Revo Uninstal-
ler, a free utility that does more to fully eradicate
errant software than the built-in Windows control
panel.
If
This is a good time to kill anything you don’t want you’re willing to pay to protect your system from ma-
that’s part of Windows 7 itself. Load up the control lware and get some extra firewall protection to boot,
panel called Uninstall a Program (search for it from we recommend you install our Editors’ Choice secu-
the Start menu). On the left, click “Turn Windows rity package, Norton Internet Security 2011 ($69.99
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Features on or off.” You’ll get a User Account Control direct for three licenses). Its defense against spyware
warning; click OK. Uncheck anything in the list you and viruses is extremely effective, and its impact
definitely don’t want, such as games, Tablet PC Op- on system performance is minimal.
tional Components, etc. If you don’t know what
an item does, hover the cursor over the name for If you don’t want to pay, check out Ad-Aware Free
a description. If you still don’t know what it does, Internet Security 9.0, the free version of Ad-Aware
best to leave it. Pro that lacks very little. It beats all the other free
software we’ve seen in our tests for malware re-
Don’t confuse crapware with trialware—a trial moval.
version of software you might actually want that
is active for a limited time. It might be worth kee- Everyone on a broadband connection needs a
ping, especially if it’s a free trial of a solid security software firewall to control which applications
product, which leads us to… on your PC can access the Internet. The firewall in
your network router is not enough. When it comes
to free firewall software, there are several to pick
from, in particular Check Point’s ZoneAlarm Free
Firewall gives all the control you might want that
you can’t get from the built-in Windows Firewall.
But if you don’t install a third-party firewall, make
sure Windows Firewall is turned on at the very least.
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3. December 30, 2011
batteryfast.co.uk
What Everybody Ought to Know About New PCs (I)
4. Download Updates 6. Transfer Files
At some point, your PC will tell you there are Win-
dows updates available, probably about five minutes
after you successfully boot up. Grab those updates.
You may have an icon in the system tray at the lower
right, or you can select Windows Update from the
main menu at the lower left (choose All Programs
to find it).
Depending on when Windows 7 was installed on
yourcomputer, you could have quite a few updates—
big updates—to download. Let this process run its
course. Walk away, eat some leftovers, go out for Windows 7 makes it relatively simple to move files
a mocha latte, watch an Adam Sandler movie. It’s from your old computer to the new with the Win-
going to take a while, and the Sandler flick will seem dows Easy Transfer utility. It works with various
to last forever (especially Jack and Jill). When the methods (external hard drive, USB flash drive,
downloads are done, run Windows Update again. network, and transfer cable) to move not only data
Updates tend to beget updates. Three times should files and folders but also settings from your old Win-
be sufficient. By now, you should have a truly pris- dows system to the new. It can even re-create your
tine system. user accounts, if you want that. It does not move
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/battery-technology/what-everybody-ought-to-know-about-new-pcs-i/
your old applications. To take advantage of Easy
5. Ghost the Machine Transfer, your old PC must be running Windows
2000, XP, or Vista.
After something catastrophic happens, some techies
prefer to reinstall from the original CDs to get a fresh You can always use old-school sneaker-net—copy
start. That means going through all those updates files from the old PC on a CD, DVD, or USB flash drive,
again. Instead, back up your pristine system right then copy them over to your new machine—but
now with the full, updated Windows 7 OS, so you if you’ve got a lot of files, this could take hours or
can restore everything quickly after a disaster. days. That really big external hard drive with a USB
connector you bought for backup is an option. A
Make a complete drive image (aka a ghost) of the better solution might be to reuse the hard drive from
C: drive. Windows 7 users with Home Premium on your old computer. A USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE Adapter
up can go to the Back up or Restore control panel (about $25), like one fromStarTech, can turn an old
and pick “Create a System Image.” Save the image to drive into an external drive for use on your new PC.
your hard drive. If it’s small enough, burn it to some It’s just not very pretty.
DVDs, otherwise copy the image file to an external
hard drive or USB flash drive for access later. The home network is your slickest alternative—
once you have it set up right. Go into the System
You can also make images with Norton Ghost control panel, click Advanced system settings, and
15.0,Norton Ghost 15.0, Acronis True Image Home then go to the Computer Name tab under System
2011, or a freebie like DriveImage XML.. Properties. Click the Change button. Make sure the
new computer has a name that’s unique among the
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4. December 30, 2011
batteryfast.co.uk
What Everybody Ought to Know About New PCs (I)
computers in the house, and that the Workgroup PC. Dropbox is our Editors’ Choice in this category.
name is exactly the same for all the computers in It supports sync between multiple Windows, Mac,
the house. Otherwise, they can’t see each other to and even Linux PCs, and even allows access to files
share. Go into your software firewall and check that via handhelds like the iPhone. Basic service is free
it’s open to other PCs on your network (and that the and gives you 2 GB of online storage; it costs $9.99
firewalls on the other computers are open to the new a month to get 50 GB.
PC, as well). Find the folder containing the files you
want to share on the old computer, right-click on Local backup of your data gives you more control.
it to get Properties, and tell Windows to share the One option is to partition your hard drive into mul-
folder. On Windows 7 systems, the folder should tiple drives—C: for the system and programs, D: for
now show up in the Network and Sharing Center data, E: for items you don’t need to back up. That way,
when you click View computers and devices. (The you can tell Windows Backup and Restore control
HomeGroup feature in Windows 7 is great, but is panel to look at one drive only. Buy an external hard
only going to be useful if all your computers run drive that’s at least 1.5 times larger than the data
Windows 7.) partition (a 500GB external drive to back up your
300GB partition, for example) as a target drive. Now
Avoid the temptation to buy a migration utility or even huge video and photo files are no big deal to
some special, expensive USB cable to use with its back up. Simply put them in the same spot every
Easy Transfer utility. Neither option is worth the time—always “D: for data” (for example)—and let
money, especially for an action you’ll take only once. the software do its job.
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/battery-technology/what-everybody-ought-to-know-about-new-pcs-i/
Consider instead something that does much more, 8. Geek Out The Browser
like IOGear’s USB Laptop KVM Switch with File
Transfer. It not only handles file transfers between Microsoft Internet Explorer—IE to it’s friends—
computers but lets you switch instantly from PC comes with every copy of Windows in this country,
to PC, using a single keyboard/monitor/mouse to but it’s far from the only choice when it comes to
control everything. For $49.95, it’s one way to en- browsing the Web. In fact, we recently crowned
sure that both your old and your new computers a new Editors’ Choice for Web browsing: Google
remain useful. Chrome’s incredible speed, instant installation, cus-
tomization via extensions, built in Flash and PDF
7. Prep for Data Backup support, and so much more no make it the browser
to beat.
No doubt you’ve heard this a zillion times, but in case
this advice hasn’t taken, I’ll repeat: A simple backup And even Firefox remains a favorite, because when
regime is great for peace of mind. Online backup ser- it comes to extensibility, Firefox wrote the book.
viceslike MozyHome make it painless. You can start
with a free account that stores up to 2GB of data. Sure, you could go your whole life using both brow-
Perfect for your unfinished novel or other small sers and never change a thing, but once you install
projects. (You can get unlimited online storage with a few key extensions, you’ll wonder how you ever
Mozy for $4.95 per month.) lived with a plain, vanilla browser. If you used Fire-
fox on your old computer, you probably want the
If you’ve got multiple machines, consider one of same settings, bookmarks, and extensions. Back up
the many services that synchronize files between the old Firefox using freeware MozBackup, save the
computers with online backup in the middle, so file to your new PC, and use MozBackup to restore.
you can get to files when you’re at someone else’s It also works with Thunderbird to back up e-mail.
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5. December 30, 2011
batteryfast.co.uk
What Everybody Ought to Know About New PCs (I)
If you want to get anything done online, you better
quickly install these helper programs no matter
what browser you use, assuming they’re not already
integrated at installation: QuickTime, Adobe Flash,
Microsoft Silverlight, Windows Media Player, and
a PDF file reader.
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