Immediate Steps to Take Upon New Laptop Purchase

Immediate Steps to Take Upon New Laptop Purchase

If you’ve recently purchased a new laptop, chances are you’re very excited about getting it home and working with it. However, it’s important to ensure you’ve taken the proper initial steps to protect your laptop from potential threats, including viruses, performance issues and more.

At PC Laptops, we’re happy to help with a wide range of new laptops, plus comprehensive laptop repair services in case any issues arise with your machine. Here are some steps you can take immediately after purchasing your laptop to ensure you get the most out of it.

Update Your Operating System

The first thing you need to do is update your laptop’s operating system to the latest possible version. This will help protect your laptop and ensure that everything is working properly. Within Windows 10, for example, you’ll need to go to the Windows Store to download the most recent updates.

Next, be sure that you grab any necessary updates for your laptop model from the manufacturer’s website. These may include things like new drivers or other patches and fixes.

If you have a Mac, then updates through Apple are handled by going into the Mac App Store. Update any apps as well, such as iTunes. Unfortunately, there is no central point where all of these updates can be managed like on Windows.

Install Security Software

Install security software like antivirus, malware protection and a firewall. We recommend scanning your laptop for viruses or malware. Security software is crucial to laptop performance and protecting your laptop. It’s possible to buy laptop anti-virus software, but there are plenty of free options on the internet as well.

Depending on what platform you’re running (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux), different anti-malware vendors may be recommended.

When purchasing laptop anti-virus software, be sure to make the purchase at a reputable site. Some laptop anti-virus software comes bundled with browser optimization utilities which can cause problems with different browsers, so keep that in mind when buying laptop protection.

Set Up an Automatic Data Backup System

If laptop data is critical for work or life, we recommend setting up an automatic laptop data backup system that allows for data recovery if any of your data is lost or compromised. There are a number of laptop backup programs available: Online laptop backups can be done through services such as Storage Whale; offline laptop backups can be done by using external drives such as Seagate Expansion drives, WD My Passport external drives and more.

For more on the initial steps to take while ensuring a new laptop is protected and safe at all times, or to learn about any of our laptop repair or other PC services, speak to the staff at PC Laptops today.