Tips to Do as Soon as You Purchase a New Computer
Posted on December 18, 2009
Here are some few tips given to reduce potential headaches later by doing these steps as soon as you purchase a new computer. The following tips given below are:
1. Emergency Disks:
In more of the computers which comes by packaged with CDs or DVDs you can use to reinstall the operating system and pre-installed software in case something goes wrong, such as a hard drive hiccup, an itchy trigger finger that loves pressing the ‘Del’ key. If such discs are included, place them in a safe place and make copies once the computer is set up. If it does not come with your computer, read its manual for instructions on how to create them, if possible. Install new software. For safety you may make a second copy of these disks for keeping safe.
2. Install Security Software:
If internet is connected make sure you have a working firewall and antivirus software at a BARE minimum; surfing without such programs can open your computer up to all types of nasty malware. If your operating system has a built-in firewall, turn this on. If you have another computer, use it to download a firewall, anti-virus, and anti-malware applications. Either burn a CD/DVD or use a USB flash drive to copy them to the new machine. Install this software before you ever connect to the Internet to reduce the chances of problems. Once you are online, immediately download updates as needed.
If your computer comes built-in with security software, you may need to remove these packages first if you decide to install alternatives which are given below.
3. Uninstall Software:
First you want to Go through the list of installed software through the computer’s “Add/Remove Programs”, “Uninstall or change a program”, or similar tool (check the Control Panel). Remove any pre-installed “bloatware”, software you may not need such as trial games, photo applications you may never use and etc which are not in use. Do keep the installed security software unless you are offline and ready to install different applications.
4. Consider a New Web Browser:
If you go to online, you want to surf the web. There are plenty of alternatives available such as Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Google Chrome, and using another web browser may increase your overall security.
If you want to install a new web browser, be sure to keep the one that came with your operating system up-to-date to help prevent malware from attacking your system via an exploit.
5. Update All Software:
Do software updates, after going online but before browsing the web, immediately update your operating system. Check your document readers such as Adobe Acrobat Reader and any installed multimedia players. And also, look for updates to installed browser plug-ins such as Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, Java, QuickTime, and RealPlayer. Keeping everything up-to-date helps to reduce the risk of your computer getting infected by malware. So you may immediately be ready to unpack and use your new computer.
Following these five steps will help increase your security when going online. Create or find emergency recovery discs and store them in a safe place. By performing these steps, you can start your computer off right, blocking malware and operating well for hopefully for more and more years.
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