How to set up a laptop after purchase. Correctly setting up a new computer

Some say laptops are no longer needed: they are less portable than tablets and less powerful than desktop PCs. But I still love them and I think they are still useful, especially if you are a student.

So, have you bought a new laptop for work, school or other purposes? Or maybe you received it as a gift? These next few years will be a joy, but only if you take the time to set it up correctly.

Here are a few things you should do with your new laptop. A small investment of time today can save you a lot of headaches and frustration in the future.

1. Update your operating system

If you bought a laptop from a retail or online store, it has probably sat on the shelf for several months. During this time, many useful updates have been released - and these updates are more important than you think.

On Windows, turn on Windows Update. I know it's annoying, and I know it always works in the worst of times, but it's a small price to pay for security.
On a Mac, keep up with software updates when you're alerted to them. Don't put them off otherwise you may find yourself a victim of malware one day.
In Linux, updates are used more for convenience than security, but they are still important.
In Chrome OS, everything is handled behind the scenes. Whenever you're connected to Wi-Fi, Chrome OS checks for updates and downloads any that it finds. To install them, all you need to do is restart your device.

2. Remove unnecessary software and viruses

Bloatware is pre-loaded software that is unwanted or unnecessary for the end user. These applications are rarely used but waste a lot of valuable disk resources. Windows laptop manufacturers are notorious for installing programs that the end user doesn't need, while this rarely happens on Mac, Linux and Chrome OS laptops.

The easiest way to clean up third-party apps is to install one of the third-party app uninstallers. They will scan your system for all installed applications and allow you to completely remove the ones you don't need.

3. Install antivirus software

All laptops need antivirus software - yes, even Macs and Linux! It is a myth that Windows is the only vulnerable operating system these days. If you forget about protection, you may find yourself the victim of serious attacks.

This is why I recommend installing antivirus software. If you don't want a background service protecting you in real time, at least install a manual tool like MalwareBytes and scan your computer for viruses once a week.

4. Install the anti-theft program (Antitheft)

Laptop theft is one of the worst things that can happen. Not only will you lose the device, but all the important data on it - and once that's done, the laptop may be nearly impossible to recover unless the thief is completely stupid and exposes himself.

Luckily, Windows 10 has a built-in security feature called “Find My Device” that you can enable on your laptop. If you don't like this feature or you use Mac or Linux, you can always use the free version of Prey (which also supports mobile devices).

5. Optimize your power settings

Laptops are portable devices, so maximizing battery life should be a priority. A few simple adjustments can mean the difference between six hours and nine hours per charge.

First, turn down your display brightness. But don't set it too low, otherwise it may cause eye fatigue. In Windows, you can adjust the power settings to dim the screen when the laptop is not in use. On a Mac, you can set up the power saving feature to do the same.

Also consider using sleep and/or hibernation modes in your operating system. They can save a lot of battery life when you travel with your laptop.

Finally, stop using Chrome. It is known for draining your battery a lot. I recommend using Opera, which has a great battery saving mode.

6. Set up automatic backups

Imagine what will happen in six months: a lot of documents, projects, presentations and all other personal data will accumulate on your laptop. And if your laptop goes missing or gets damaged, all those files will be lost forever, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Don't let this happen. Set up a backup system now, while you still have the opportunity.

Windows 10 has several native methods including Backup and Restore, Recovery Drive Creator and more. Mac has Time Machine, but if you don't like it, you can always choose any other backup solution. Linux also has many excellent backup tools and utilities that will keep your data convenient.

7. Set up cloud storage and synchronization

Cloud storage is a great way to make your data accessible no matter where you are, and can even act as a sort of semi-backup system. What is cloud storage? Basically, storing synchronized copies of your files on a remote server.

If your laptop ever dies or is stolen, your files will still be in the cloud.

The most popular services are Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Yandex drive. They each have their pros and cons, but they all offer free plans, so try them all and see what you like best.

8. Minimize Heat Damage

Don't forget that laptops are more susceptible to heat than desktop computers. Desktop computer cases are large enough for good ventilation, and tablets don't have to worry about dust accumulating, whereas laptops have poor air circulation and a lot of dust.

Irregular ventilation and clogged dust collectors equal heat damage!

Excess heat can degrade your processor's performance to reduce heat consumption, which means a slower system. Excess heat can also shorten the life of internal hard drives and cause batteries to lose their overall charging capacity.

What can you do about it?

Buy a laptop tray and stop using your laptop on the carpet, bedding, couch, or even your lap. Always place it on a hard, flat surface to minimize dust.
Buy a laptop cooler to improve airflow.
Install a temperature monitoring program so you can notice when your system is getting hot and immediately turn off intensive applications (like games, video editors and crypto miners).

9. Configure system settings

Now that all maintenance related tasks are out of the way, it's time to make your laptop yours. Go ahead and customize the theme, desktop wallpaper, taskbar layout, etc.

Personalize and customize Windows, including new Start menu options.
Personalize and customize your Mac, including icons, wallpapers, and the Dock.

Windows 10 users should also pay attention to the features and settings that should be disabled to make Windows 10 less annoying, as well as remove advertisements.

10. Install your favorite apps

Now that your laptop is clean and ready to go, it's time to install all the apps you think you'll need. But before you download hundreds of different installer files, consider using Ninite.

Ninite creates a custom installer file, based on which you select the ones you need from dozens of popular applications. Then you install them all using one installer file. Be sure to save the installer file later - you can run it again at any time to update all applications.

11. Start Using a VPN

A virtual private network (VPN) may seem complicated, but it's easy to use: you simply download and launch the app. The app encrypts your connection, protects against eavesdropping devices, allows you to access cloud-blocked content, and makes it difficult for web activity to be traced back to you. Along with many other beneficial benefits!

But using a VPN comes with a caveat: avoid using free VPNs whenever possible. They can be useful, but there are other risks and costs associated with them - risks and costs that are not worth taking.

With your laptop set up and ready to go, there are still a few things you need to know.

You won't kill your laptop's battery if you keep it on all the time, but it will lose overall capacity faster. For maximum lifespan, it's best to switch between battery and AC power, making sure the battery is completely drained.

It is also important to remember that you are using a laptop. It's tempting to lie on your back or stomach, slouch, and harness yourself into weird positions for instant comfort, but poor posture can cause real bodily harm in the long run.

Finally, tell your friends about all these laptop care and productivity tips you learned from this article and answer the following questions.

What laptop did you buy? Do you like him? Were there any other tips for setting up new laptops that I missed? Share it with us in the comments below!

Today, the presence of a huge number of different utilities allows the user to make a choice based not only on the functionality of the program, but also taking into account their individual needs and preferences. Therefore, often the standard set of programs that are installed with Windows 10 cannot fully satisfy all the user’s needs. That is why most users need an approximate list of programs for a new laptop that are most often used by many users. Here are the most popular programs today.

It’s hard to imagine life on the Internet without an antivirus. The standard virus protection program in Windows 10 is not able to protect you from all the threats that await you on various sites. To surf the Internet calmly and not be afraid that all your files will be stolen or damaged in an instant, you need to install a reliable antivirus. Moreover, most users want it to be free.

360 Total Security – provided to all users free of charge. Effectively searches for viruses and removes them instantly. It also has a firewall to protect you from data theft and espionage. The program also has a feature for safely running suspicious programs called “Sandbox”.
Dr.Web is an antivirus that has earned the trust of many Internet users. Known for its effectiveness in finding and destroying viruses. The program includes an anti-virus scanner, anti-rootkit, preventive protection, mail anti-virus, firewall, anti-virus “watchman”. The company offers its users 30 days of free work.
Microsoft Security Essentials is another free antivirus from Microsoft. It is easy to use. It consumes few system resources and therefore does not slow down the computer. It works in the background and protects all the time from various viruses and spyware, Trojans, and worms.
Kaspersky Antivirus - experienced PC users remember this antivirus for its unusual virus detection sound. This antivirus continues to update and get better every year. It protects your computer from virus attacks, prevents threats, protects confidential data, and is also very easy to use.

What antivirus do you use?

Kaspersky Internet Security 35%, 279 votes

I don't use antivirus 14%, 114 votes

Microsoft Security Essentials 9%, 73 vote

30.06.2017

Browser

A fast browser is a very important factor in convenient and productive work on the Internet. For some, a minimalistic design with a minimum of buttons is important, while for others, the ability to install many add-ons and different themes is important. However, the most popular browsers are:

Google Chrome is a fast and lightweight browser that focuses on simplicity and convenience. At the same time, it is not devoid of functionality. It has all the most necessary functions for fast and convenient work on the Internet, and also has the ability to install extensions and themes from the store.
Yandex.Browser - a simple interface and high performance are the most important advantages of this web browser. It has a “Turbo” function, which allows you to increase the speed of browsing pages when the Internet is poor. This browser is also different in that it opens many files directly. Thanks to it, you do not need to install many programs on your computer. The browser opens formats: PDF, DOC, EPUB, FB2 and many others. The browser allows you to install add-ons from the Google Chrome and Opera add-on stores.
Opera is very similar to its counterparts, although unlike them it also has battery saving features and the ability to enable a free VPN.
Mozilla Firefox is a browser that calls itself independent and created for the convenience of people, and not for personal profit. It is distinguished by its speed, as well as many privacy settings.

All browsers are distributed free of charge.

Which browser do you prefer?

Poll Options are limited because JavaScript is disabled in your browser.

30.06.2017

Programs for download

A lot of programs, as well as films and games can now be found on torrent resources. To do this you need to have such a program for downloading. μTorrent is the most popular torrent client. High speed, great functionality, minimum advertising - this distinguishes it from other downloaders. You can also install Mediaget, which opens and downloads not only torrent links, but also magnet links. It is very convenient for downloading TV series and movies, since it allows you to watch them directly in the downloader window, without waiting for the download to finish.

Viewing Images

The standard image viewer in Windows 10 is not bad, but has limited functionality and takes a very long time to open images.

IrfanView is a simple program without designer bells and whistles, which weighs only 1 MB. It is distinguished by its speed. In it you can immediately edit photos, change their format and move them. Can be viewed in a slide show. The program is free and opens all modern image formats.
Picasa is a program that recognizes many photo formats and organizes them for quick retrieval. The program allows you to set passwords on albums, as well as edit photos. Also free.
FastStone Image Viewer is a multifunctional image viewer. Allows you to easily manage your images, create music slideshows, quickly edit photos, apply special effects such as watermarks, and much more.

Photo editor

Despite the fact that the standard Paint program is simple and understandable even to a child, its functionality is very limited. You won't be able to open multiple images at the same time, make adjustments, use hotkeys to speed up your work, or use layers for convenience. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Paint provides very few tools for working with images. A good alternative is GIMP. It has many tools for photo processing, various effects and filters. But at the same time, the program has an intuitive interface, which allows you to use it without training.

It is also worth noting FastStone Image Viewer, which combines the functions of viewing and quickly editing photos, which helps to significantly save disk space.

Audio player

For those who like to listen to music from a computer, a standard audio player will definitely not be enough. Fortunately, there is now a wide selection of audio players.

AIMP - nice interface, many functions, support for many formats and much more in one player. There are many skins available for download. The player also comes with an audio converter, which is very convenient for quickly converting one audio file format to another.
Winamp is a player that has earned trust thanks to many years of work. For some, the name of the program a few years ago was generally associated with the music format. The program has huge functionality and supports various plugins.

Video player

At the moment, there are such a huge number of convenient and attractive media players that it has become incredibly difficult to choose. However, the most popular ones are:

Media Player Classic - in order not to separately install codecs for Windows 10, this player installs them immediately with the player. One of the most popular video players. A simple interface and fast operating speed are the best qualities of this video player.
The KMPlayer is an equally popular Windows video player that has a wide variety of settings. Supports many formats.
Adobe Flash Player – you will simply need to install this player, since it is responsible for playing audio and video in the browser, as well as for running web games.

Office programs for Windows

Office programs are the most important utilities for those who constantly work with documents. The standard Microsoft Office package includes:

Text editor Microsoft Word;
Editor for Microsoft Excel tables;
Microsoft Outlook mail manager;
A program for creating and editing Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

Less popular utilities in the MS Office package: Access, InfoPath, Publisher, Visio, Project, OneNote, Groove and others. All of them are distributed on a paid basis.

A good free alternative is OpenOffice.org. It is also aimed at working with various documents. Its only drawback is that it sometimes does not read Microsoft Office formats correctly.

Archiver

An archiver is needed to unpack programs, games or other applications packed in an archive. An archiver is also needed when it is necessary to group all files and documents and send them by mail or instant messenger. Using an archiver, you can protect your files by setting a password on the archive. But first of all, the archiver is still designed to save disk space or reduce the file size for sending over the Internet.

WinRAR is a very simple and easy-to-use archiver. It quickly archives any files, can open any archives, and allows you to change its appearance. WinRAR has a 40-day free trial. But after this period, the program is not blocked, but continues to work fully, only a window periodically pops up reminding you to purchase a license.
7-Zip is a free archiver with a high compression ratio. It is open source. Lightweight and reads many formats.

System optimization and configuration

Just as every person looks after himself and puts himself in order, you also need to look after your computer so that the system lasts as long as possible and there are no failures. To do this, you need a program that will clean the system of unnecessary files, enable or disable additional functions, speed up the boot and operation of the system, defragment the disk, and much more.

Acronis Disk Director - designed for quick hard drive optimization. With its help, you can create and manage new disk partitions. You can recover deleted data from disk. The program protects data on the disk and also helps improve the performance of the entire computer.
Auslogics BoostSpeed is a very popular program that was even advertised on the Discovery Channel. With its help you can speed up your computer and even the Internet. You can also clean up disks and increase free space on your computer, fix errors in the registry, defragment disks, recover deleted files, and protect your private information. It is used to tune Windows 10 for maximum performance. This program combines many functions for which there are usually separate utilities.
Auslogics Driver Updater - helps you quickly and without unnecessary hassle update all the drivers on your computer.
Unistall Tool - if you think that by deleting a program you get rid of all its files, then you are very mistaken. In fact, after removing any programs, many small files remain on the disk, which over time heavily load the system. If you delete programs using this utility, then there will be no trace of them left on your hard drive.
CCleaner is a tool for cleaning your computer from junk. Quickly and effectively copes with its task. It also has functions for uninstalling programs, system recovery, startup settings, and completely erasing disks.

Messengers

If 10 years ago communication on the Internet was maintained through email, now there are many instant messengers that allow you to communicate with people from all over the world. Instant messaging makes life much easier not only at work, but also at home. The most popular instant messengers on Windows 10:

Skype was the first program that allowed Internet users to communicate with each other through video calls. Until now, Skype has not lost its popularity. A very easy and convenient interface, your own funny emoticons, the ability to hold online conferences with 100 people at the same time and many other functions without which many Skype users can no longer imagine their lives. The program is free, only calls to mobile phones are charged.
Viber is a very popular program for exchanging free messages to mobile phones. Viber users also actively use the program on their computer, as this allows them not to interrupt conversations, as well as make free calls to the subscriber even without a phone. The program has not only its own emoticons, but also stickers, and has also introduced the function of temporary messages, which are deleted themselves after a while. The program is free, you only charge for additional stickers.
WhatsApp is another messenger that has gained popularity thanks to its version on smartphones. After a while, an official program for computers appeared. Therefore, if you and your friends or acquaintances communicate via WhatsApp, then it would be a good idea to install it on your computer.

Introduction

This material will tell you what you need to do after purchasing a laptop. It’s better, of course, to do all this immediately after purchasing the laptop, but if it didn’t work out right away, then you can do it after a while

Let's get started

When you start the laptop for the first time, you need to enter your name, specify the name of the laptop, select the language...

Then it will take about 15-30 minutes to install proprietary utilities and drivers on the laptop:

There will be a reboot at the end of the installation process. When installing utilities and drivers, it is recommended not to do anything on the laptop.

The first step is to fully charge the laptop, and then work in offline mode without recharging until the battery is completely discharged (charge level is approximately 5-10%). These operations calibrate the battery. They are recommended by many laptop manufacturers.

Creating system recovery disks

Included with laptops Acer Usually there are no recovery discs. It is assumed that the user will create them himself. How to create them will be described below:

Launch the proprietary utility Acer eRecovery Management, press Setup -> Create a New Password and set a password that you should not forget since it must be entered when automatically restoring the system using eRecovery and pressing ALT+F10(alternatively, you can specify it in the field Hint- clue)

Press the button Burn Disc (Burn disc in the Russian version) at the bottom of the window and we get to the disc burning menu:

Here, first click on Factory Default Disc (Create a disk with standard factory settings in the Russian version of the program), and then to ( Create a disk with an archive of drivers and applications in the Russian version of the program). For the first you will need two DVDs, for the second - one DVD:

It is better to put burned discs in a safe place (in a laptop box, for example). I’ll explain what those disks are for:

Two Factory Defeault Discs are used to restore Windows Vista with all the programs and drivers that came with the laptop. To restore, you need to boot from the first disk, then the installation process will begin. To boot from the disk you need to go into the BIOS (press F2 when booting), in the menu Boot and put the IDE CD in the first position (using the F5 and F6 keys), save the settings and exit the BIOS.

Looking ahead, I will say that for successful recovery there should be only TWO partitions on the laptop’s hard drive (not counting the hidden ones, although their presence is not necessary) - C: and D:. C: should be primary and D: should be logical. Disk size C: - at least 20GB. When restoring from these disks, the same as when restoring from hidden partitions (ALT+F10) ALL information from drive C: IS ERASED. Drive D: will remain untouched.

Driver & Application Backup Disc Used for cases where Vista is installed from a disk. Naturally, there are no Acer utilities, no bundled software, or even laptop drivers in the standard Windows Vista package. On Driver & Application Backup Disc it's all there. There are distributions of proprietary Acer utilities, there are distributions of software that comes with the laptop and drivers for the laptop.

Note: If you have deleted hidden partitions and Acer eRecovery does not want to burn discs, then do not despair. For example, if the laptop came with Windows Vista Home Premium, then there should be a piece of paper with the Windows serial number on the bottom. If you want to have licensed Windows on your laptop, then just get any disk with the Windows Vista distribution, run the installation and during installation enter the code from the piece of paper on the bottom. In this case, Windows will be licensed, will undergo activation and receive updates. You can find drivers on this site.

Everything related to Acer eRecovery is discussed in this forum thread:

Creating images of hidden partitions

Having finished with the disks, you can start creating images of hidden partitions. There are one or two hidden partitions on the laptop hard drive. They serve to automatically restore the system with all drivers and programs. To restore, press the key combination ALT+F10 when booting the laptop. Acer Aspire 5920 has two hidden partitions, because in this laptop the manufacturer implemented IOArcade technology - launching a media center without loading Vista. For its operation there is a hidden partition with a volume of 3 GB. The vast majority of Acer laptops have only one hidden partition - PQService several gigabytes in size. The Acer Aspire 5920 has a capacity of 10 GB.

It is mandatory to create images of hidden partitions

To create images of hard drive partitions we need a program Acronis True Image. The version used in this article can be downloaded from these links: /

To create images, the functionality of the demo version will be sufficient. I recommend version 10, although later versions can be used.
During the installation process, you will need to fill out a small questionnaire; the laptop must be connected to the Internet at this time.

Launch the program, click Try Now!(demo version after all)

Choose Backup- that is, creating partition images:

We indicate that we will backup disks:

We select only one hidden section. The hidden NTFS partition is responsible for IOArcade technology - launching a media center without loading the OS. On some laptops, Acer has not implemented this feature and there will not be an NTFS partition; you can skip the steps below for this partition. Your partition sizes may vary from those shown below:

Click OK:

Specify the name of the image of the hidden partition and where to save it:

We choose to create an image of the entire partition:

Select default settings:

Indicate comments on the image. This is not necessary. You can specify the exact size of the partition and its partition name, for example. The exact size can be found on the last tab with a button Proceed in field Size:

Click Next and we get the following:

To start creating an image, click Proceed:

After finishing, click OK:

Now we repeat similar operations for the other hidden section PQService. But this time we use maximum compression and split the image into parts for recording on DVDs. Do not rename parts of the image! The size of this section for different Acer laptops may differ from the dimensions in the screenshots.

We choose again Backup:

Select the PQService section. It is he who is responsible for automatic system recovery:

Specify the name of the image and where to save it:

We choose to create a full image of the partition:

Select manual mode:

Set the maximum compression level on the tab Compression Level:

We indicate how to split the partition image on the tab Archive Splitting:

You can also enable checking the partition image for errors on the tab Additional Settings:

Indicate comments on the image. Although this is not necessary.

To start the image creation process, click Proceed:

After finishing, we get something like this message and click OK:

As a result, there should be 2-3 files on drive D:: one image file of one partition (on some models it may not exist) and two parts of the image of the second hidden partition - PQService. These images MUST be burned onto another computer or onto DVDs.

Do not rename image files!

Disks made by the eRecovery utility and disks with disk images should be placed in a safe place (for example, in a laptop box). Only when images of hidden partitions are made and they are recorded on a DVD or another computer can you begin to manipulate partitions, XP settings, etc.!!!

If you were in a hurry and accidentally erased hidden sections without making images of them, then

BIOS update

First, download the BIOS archive from the Acer website. The archive contains everything you need to update the BIOS, as well as instructions (usually in the Readme.txt or install file). The archive may also contain a text file describing changes in this BIOS version.

You can update the BIOS in two ways:

1) from Windows. In this case, the program that updates the BIOS is launched from Windows. This method is simple, but there is a small chance that the system will freeze during the update and, even worse, the firmware will be damaged. Then you will have to restore the BIOS using a Crysis flash drive. How to do it is described in this material:

2) from under DOS. This method is considered more reliable, but you must first create a bootable USB flash drive with DOS, and then copy the firmware file and the flasher itself to it. The procedure for flashing firmware from DOS is usually well described in the firmware instructions. How to create such a flash drive is described in this material:

Let's look at an example of firmware from Windows for an Acer Aspire 5920 laptop. The procedure for flashing your laptop model may vary significantly.

Questions about updating the BIOS are addressed in this forum thread: . Before doing this, you should read the topic. The most common errors when updating are well described there.

So. Let's begin. Download the program for updating the BIOS from Phoenix from here: /, it should also be in the archive with the BIOS.

Download the version for 64-bit OS from this link: /

Then we unpack the contents into a folder, unpack the file with the xxxxxxxx.WPH firmware into the same folder and run SwinFlash.exe from the folder where the BIOS was unpacked:

In the lower window we indicate the path to the file with the firmware, and in the upper window we indicate the name under which to save the current BIOS
Before flashing the firmware, you must close all other programs, the laptop must be running on mains power, and the battery must be charged.
Click on the button Flash BIOS. After a couple of minutes, the BIOS will be flashed and the laptop must be rebooted.

If you still have questions after reading this material, then we can express them on our website. I very rarely respond to comments.

Edited by: FuzzyL- September 15, 2013
Reason: Material version 2.0

When purchasing a new laptop, we usually receive a ready-to-use tool with a pre-installed operating system, application programs, and games. Here are 10 steps you need to take to aftermarket your new laptop to ensure it's comfortable, reliable, and safe to use.

1. Recently, manufacturers are increasingly refusing to supply media (CD/DVD/USB flash disk) for disaster recovery along with the laptop. Therefore, the first thing I would like to recommend is to make disks/flash drives to restore the system or to restore factory settings. In the event of a hard drive failure or a critical condition of the operating system, you will be able to independently restore the computer's functionality.

2. Antivirus program. As a rule, laptop manufacturers install a trial version of the antivirus that provides protection for 30-90 days. We can recommend changing the demo version of the antivirus to something more permanent. Among the free solutions, we can recommend Microsoft Security Essentials, Avast, Avira. See also “Which antivirus is better?” . See promotions, for example Yandex together with Kaspersky - 6 months of free antivirus.

3. Often laptop manufacturers install browser plugins from search engines, for example from Yahoo!, Yandex, ASK, etc. If you do not plan to use the services of these search engines, then you can safely remove them. This will free up space on your hard drive and speed up your browser.

4. Many users prefer to use something other than the Internet Explorer pre-installed with the operating system as an Internet browser, so we can recommend installing Google Chrome (or its derivatives), Opera or Mozilla Firefox.

5. To work with documents (doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, etc.), you must install an office software package. On computers with Windows 7, MS Office 2010 Starter was often pre-installed - a truncated but free version of MS Word and MS Excel. With other versions of MS Windows, manufacturers preinstall a 90-120 day trial version of MS Office. After the trial period, you must purchase this version of MS Office or stop using it. An alternative to a paid office package from Microsoft can be free ones - LibreOffice, OpenOffice, or online services - Google Docs, etc.

6. MS Windows starting from version 98 has built-in support for zip archives, but additional software may be required to work with other archive formats. Laptop manufacturers often install trial or shareware programs as archivers that stop working after a while. Therefore, you can replace these programs with 7-Zip - a file archiver or another similar free one.

7. It’s an incredible shame to lose documents, photographs, films, etc. due to a computer breakdown. Therefore, you should take care of setting up backup immediately after purchasing it. Starting with Windows Vista, the operating system has a good backup program. If you don't have any special backup requirements, it will work just fine. It is better to use an external drive, such as a USB or eSATA drive, as a backup disk. If the volume of your data is relatively small, then you can back up using cloud services, for example, Google Disk (currently free up to 15GB) or Yandex.Disk (currently free up to 10GB) or Dropbox, etc.

8. MS Windows includes a program for viewing video and listening to audio files - Windows Media Player. But this program does not support all audio and video file formats. Therefore, it is advisable to install a more universal program, for example, VLC media player

9. Mail program. If you are used to working with mail through a program, and not in a browser window, if for some reason you do not like the mail program preinstalled with the operating system or there is none at all, then we can recommend installing the free Mozilla Thunderbird program.

10. Instant messaging client, Internet phone. Very often, Skype is already installed on a new computer - a program - an Internet phone. All you need to use it is to log in and it’s ready to go. But the program for instant messaging: icq, qip or analogues - you will need to download and install. Also, recently, users have been abandoning the use of Skype and icq in favor of Viber. As a rule, it is not present on a new laptop, i.e. it also needs to be downloaded and installed.

Further, everything depends on the purpose of purchasing a laptop, on the scope of its application: graphic programs are needed for design, CAD programs for drawing, appropriate programs for engineering calculations, etc. But by following the 10 steps described above, you can increase the comfort and reliability of using your new laptop.