How to setup a new Windows 10 PC

Lisa Hendrickson | October 11, 2019 | 0 Comments

Black Friday is creeping up here soon and many of you are looking forward to buying a new computer especially if you have Windows 7. Windows 7 is at “End of Life” on Jan 14, 2020. So that means…it’s time to get a new PC! This is not always exciting for everyone because setting up a new PC takes a while but I promise you this…Windows 10 and a new fast hard drive will be life changing. Read more of my tips below before you get your new PC setup. Remember, I’m here to help so please call me if you need anything. 612-865-4475.

Here are some tips for setting up your new PC

Here is the blog link for those wanting to save the page for reference.

1.) When you buy a new computer

During the setup you will be prompted to log into the computer with a Microsoft account. Please do not log in with your business email unless your IT company instructs you to do so. I’d prefer if you created a brand new Outlook.com account. What is happening is clients are using their business email for the setup and things can get really messy with the computer, causing issues with your Office software.

Once you are setup, you will see a OneDrive account in your file explorer folders. Be careful…your Documents folder will probably now save everything to your OneDrive. This can be changed by logging out of the Microsoft Account you had to use when signing in the first time. Call me to assist with this if you need help. 612-865-4475.

2.) Run your Windows updates before installing software.

You can find the updates by going to the “magnifying glass” in the lower left corner of your monitor and type in the search area “update”.

Click on the 2 arrows and you will see the update page. Your updates may say you are up to date, click the button “Check for updates” anyway.

I would keep doing this until there are no updates left. New PC’s always have months of updates to do because your computer has been sitting on a shelf or in a warehouse since it was built.

3.) If your computer came pre-installed with McAfee:

Of course, this came free with a trial for you to use but more often than not, I end up having to remove the “trial version” when clients have issues with their Outlook. Windows There are many other Antivirus programs that are better, or you can use Windows Defender that comes with your computer.

4.) I don’t recommend installing Outlook 2010 on a Windows 10 computer. It’s slow and doesn’t work as well as the newer versions. I recommend buying and installing 32-bit Office purchased from the Microsoft store. When you first launch Outlook on a new PC, it will ask you to setup an email account. What most folks don’t know is that Outlook will setup your email with an IMAP account. Many of my clients had their email setup with POP on their old computer. This can be tricky to configure so if you want my help, I can set it up correctly. 612-865-4475

5.) Be sure to get a good online backup once you’re all setup and your data is transferred.

I use Carbonite and prefer it because there is a colored icon on the file or folder that tells me if it’s being backed up by Carbonite. I can easily click the Outlook OST files and add to the backup that are typically missed in online backup. To start a trial or purchase for $71 a year, use my link here

6.) Call me to help before you get stuck or start Googling issues with Outlook. I can assist with all email or Outlook related issues, including helping you transfer your Outlook PST files.