Setting up your computer

Your computer arrives with Windows installed but not yet personalised, so the first startup is where you make it yours. It’s a friendly process and there’s nothing here you can get badly wrong. Set aside about twenty minutes, and have your Wi-Fi password handy.

Before you plug it in

If the computer has come in from the cold (a courier van in winter, or straight off a delivery in the heat), it’s worth letting it sit indoors for an hour first. Condensation inside a cold machine is a genuine way to damage it, and the wait costs you nothing.

Have a quick look over the box for crushing or puncture damage. If you spot any, pause here and read Arrived damaged or faulty before you go further. We’ll look after you.

Set it up

1. Connect the power and, for a desktop, the monitor. Leave a laptop plugged in for this; you don’t want it going flat mid-setup.

2. Press the power button. The first boot takes longer than normal, so give it a moment. If the screen stays black for more than a minute or two, see Computer won’t turn on.

3. Choose your country and keyboard. Australia, and unless you know otherwise, the US keyboard layout. That’s the standard layout on Australian keyboards, confusingly enough.

4. Connect to Wi-Fi. Or plug in an Ethernet cable, which is faster and one less thing to go wrong during setup.

5. Sign in with a Microsoft account, or don’t.

   A Microsoft account syncs your settings and is required for OneDrive and the Microsoft Store. A local account keeps everything on the machine and doesn’t need an email address. Look for “Sign-in options” then “Offline account” if that’s what you’d prefer. Either is perfectly fine, and you can change your mind later.

6. Decline what you don’t want. You’ll be offered a Microsoft 365 trial, Game Pass, and a set of privacy toggles. None of them are required. It’s worth reading the privacy options rather than clicking through; they only take thirty seconds.

7. Wait. The final step takes several minutes and the machine may restart. That’s normal, so just leave it be and don’t turn it off.

Once you’re at the desktop

Let Windows Update run. Open Settings → Windows Update and check for updates. It’ll likely want to install a batch and restart, possibly more than once. Better to get this out of the way now than have it interrupt you later.

Check your licence is active. Settings → System → Activation should say Windows is activated. It should already be, but if it isn’t, Windows licensing will walk you through it.

Bring your files across. We’ve written up the easiest ways to do it in Transferring your files.

Install a browser if you’d rather not use Edge, along with whatever else you like to have on hand.

Do you need antivirus?

Windows includes Microsoft Defender, which is on by default and is genuinely good. For most people that’s plenty, and you don’t need to buy anything.

We’d gently steer you away from installing a second antivirus product on top. Running two causes conflicts and often makes a machine slower and less stable, not safer.

If anything above doesn’t go the way you expect, get in touch. We’re always glad to talk it through.