New battery or first use
After purchasing a new laptop computer or battery for your laptop, we recommend the battery be charged for no less than 24-hours. A 24-hour charge makes sure the battery is fully charged and helps with the battery's life expectancy. Doing so frequently can shorten the battery's lifespan.To set up a new personal Windows PC or laptop, carefully unpack it from its box, and connect your external keyboard and mouse if you have them. There will be instructions in the box if you need them. You'll need the device's charger, and a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection.
Enabling your keyboard to wake your computer from sleep mode might resolve the issue.
- In Windows, search for and open the Device Manager.
- Click the arrow next to Keyboards, and then double-click the name of your keyboard.
- Click the Power management tab.
- Select the box next to Allow this device to wake the computer.
Computers generally do not come with Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office comes in various forms including different products. For a short peroid of time, Microsoft was shipping some computers with "Office Starter" - a free Word and Excel (with ads), but that was short-lived.
How to Get a Laptop for Free
- Contact Computers with Causes.
- With Causes.
- Get a complimentary or discounted laptop from World Computer Exchange.
- The National Cristina Foundation.
- Check out the On It Foundation.
- Join an Online college.
- Check with your local Salvation Army Chapter or Goodwill.
- Check out PCs for People.
In terms of installing the update, it depends again on the size of the update and your hard drive speed, and whether you have a HDD or SSD. On my computer, typically the monthly cumulative updates take around 15–30 minutes, and major feature updates take around 2–3 hours.
How to Set Up Your New Laptop Like a Pro: Out of the Box Tips
- Step 1: Run All Windows Updates.
- Step 2: Uninstall Bloatware.
- Step 3: Copy or Sync Your Files.
- Step 4: Install Antivirus.
- To avoid annoying pop-up reminders or any potential long-term issues with Bitdefender functionality, make a Bitdefender account (the window for doing this will appear automatically after installation).
To set up your new computer, unpack the computer, turn it on, and then complete the Windows 10 setup process.
- Step 1: Unpacking the notebook.
- Step 2: Connecting the AC adapter to the notebook.
- Step 3: Connecting the mouse to the notebook.
- Step 4: Setting up Windows 10.
- Step 5: Changing the Date and Time settings.
- Locate the port on the motherboard where the ribbon cable for the power button belongs.
- Disconnect the power button.
- Take a small conductor (a safety pin or a tiny screw driver) and connect the pins on the power button port.
- If done correctly, the circuit will close and start up the laptop.
In short, yes. It is perfectly fine to use your laptop while plugged in and fully charged. Laptops these days are designed to be used while plugged in, as most automatically switch to a power saving mode when running on battery only to extend usage. just then your battery won't get charged.
Laptops are only as good as their batteries, however, and proper care of your battery is essential to making sure it retains a long life and charge. Leaving your laptop plugged in constantly is not bad for your battery, but you will need to be careful of other factors, such as heat, to prevent your battery from damage.
Leave your laptop plugged into the wall socket whenever possible. There's no need to fully drain your laptop's lithium-ion battery every time you use it. The battery continues to charge even when the laptop is turned off. It doesn't take longer to recharge the battery if you use the laptop while recharging.
For optimum battery use, and to get the most life out of your laptop battery, keeping it charged between 40% and 80% has been seen as optimum. However, the newer-generation lithium batteries do better in full charge cycles, so not letting it get below 40% is a good rule of thumb there.
If your laptop has a user-serviceable battery — that is, one you can remove on your own — you can replace your battery fairly easily. If your laptop doesn't have a user-serviceable battery, you'll need to contact the laptop's manufacturer so they can crack your laptop open and change its battery for you.
Lithium-ion batteries on the other hand will hold their charge for months with only a very slight drop in charge level. Bottom line: If your laptop uses an older type of battery it's best to let it discharge completely before recharging it. But if it uses a lithium-ion battery it's best not to.
You can leave the computer plugged in. Modern batteries do not "over charge". Too, if you leave the computer plugged into the power, it may save repeated "battery charging cycles", which, while these are measured in the thousands, might eventually wear down a battery a little more quickly.
After purchasing a new laptop computer or battery for your laptop, we recommend the battery be charged for no less than 24-hours. A 24-hour charge makes sure the battery is fully charged and helps with the battery's life expectancy. Once it is fully charged, you should not discharge it fully, if possible.
For Windows 7 users, it's easy to upgrade to Windows 10 on the same computer, but not that easy to transfer their programs, settings and files from an old Windows 7 machine - to a new Windows 10 computer. This is even more cumbersome because Windows 10 no longer includes any "Easy Transfer" functionality.
You can run Android apps on a Windows PC or laptop using an Android emulator app. BlueStacks is one solution, but you can find a list of the best Android emulators to try. The BlueStacks App Player is free to use.
Windows 10 includes online versions of OneNote, Word, Excel and PowerPoint from Microsoft Office.
With that task out of the way, sign in to Windows 10 and let's get started.
- Check the network connection.
- Get your device drivers up to date.
- Set your preferred browser and install a password manager.
- Install Office 365.
- Set up your email accounts.
- Restore your data files.
Computers generally do not come with Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office comes in various forms including different products. For a short peroid of time, Microsoft was shipping some computers with "Office Starter" - a free Word and Excel (with ads), but that was short-lived.
With that caveat out the way, here's how you get your Windows 10 free upgrade:
- Click on the Windows 10 download page link here.
- Click 'Download Tool now' - this downloads the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool.
- When finished, open the download and accept the license terms.
- Choose: 'Upgrade this PC now' then click 'Next'
The First Eight Things to Do with Your New Computer
- Disconnect that new computer from the internet. I know you've already connected; you just couldn't help yourself, I'm sure.
- Make a system image backup.
- Make a System Recovery drive.
- Set up regular backups.
- Check the firewall and connect to the internet.
- Install security software.
- Update, update, update.
- Back up again.
