The first step is by far the most tedious. You shouldn’t muck around on the web unless your copy of Windows is fully patched and up to date, period. Now for the bad news: Depending on how long your PC sat on the retail shelf, this could take minutes, or hours. Either way, it has to get done.
Microsoft releases new Windows patches at least once per month. The most recent “major” upgrade for the operating system came in the form of the (21H2) Windows 10 November 2021 Update; those larger “milestone” releases occurred twice per year in the past, but will slow to one per year in the future. Windows 11, on the other hand, just launched in October, so laptops with that installed should be pretty current. If your computer isn’t fully patched, you could be missing key security fixes and notable new features.
To get the Latest Security & Bug fixes for Windows for everything works without problems.
Free with Windows 10 & 11 which is good, so no need to pay for others that can and may cause issues as-well as slow down your system.
Software "Drivers" control the hardware parts, its good to have the latest which may have less problems and help it run better.
Windows only comes with Microsoft basic apps.
Commonly used essential apps like adobe pdf reader, google chrome / Firefox browser, all video & audio player are not part of windows.
Useless apps from manufactures usually come with new pc's , we remove them & trialware software that requires payment after a short period.
By default, Power settings, Privacy settings & Automatic windows updates are not ideal and need enabling or changing.
To get the best out of the hardware, we tune-up over 30 settings to improve the speed & better ready to use.
Once all the previous tasks have been completed, we create a restore point, to protect the working system files in-case the PC does not load up due to problems in the future.
At this point you’re pretty much ready to roll. Sure, there are some other tasks you should perform, such as moving over files from your old PC and saving the product keys or login for your other installed software, but you can do all that at your leisure. For now, just bask in the glory of owning a new PC, secure in the knowledge that it’s fully optimized, protected against attack, and recoverable if disaster strikes.