Start with the unglamorous bits

A new laptop out of the box feels ready to go, but it is not. The first hour you spend on setup will save you far more time later, and it is much easier to do now than to unpick a messy configuration six months down the line. Before you install a single game or move your photo library across, work through the fundamentals: networking, updates, accounts, and backups. Then deal with the software that came pre-installed.

Find a mains socket and plug the machine in. Updates and initial indexing chew through battery, and you do not want the laptop shutting down halfway through a firmware update. Connect to your home broadband, ideally over a wired connection if your laptop has an Ethernet port or you have a suitable adapter, because large downloads over Wi-Fi can be slow and prone to dropping.

Let the operating system catch up

Your laptop may have sat in a warehouse for weeks or months, so its system software is almost certainly behind. Check for updates straight away, and keep checking until it reports that everything is current. On most machines this means opening the settings app and looking for the update section, then restarting when prompted. Some updates only appear after a restart, so repeat the process two or three times.

Do not forget the other update channels:

• Operating system updates — the main security and feature patches.
• Firmware and BIOS updates — usually delivered through the manufacturer's own update tool, and worth installing while the laptop is new.
• Driver updates — graphics, Wi-Fi and audio drivers in particular, which affect stability and battery life.
• Built-in app updates — the store or package manager that handles the bundled applications.

This stage can take an hour or more on a fresh machine. Put the kettle on and let it finish properly rather than clicking past prompts.

Set up your user account with care

Most laptops arrive with a single administrator account created during the out-of-box setup. That is fine as a starting point, but think about how the machine will actually be used. If it is shared with a partner or children, create a separate standard (non-administrator) account for each person. Day-to-day browsing and email should never happen in an administrator account, because anything malicious that runs there inherits full control of the system.

While you are in the account settings, take five minutes over the security details. Set a proper password or a long PIN, and turn on any biometric login your machine offers if you find it convenient. If the laptop supports full-disk encryption, switch it on now, before you have copied anything sensitive across — encrypting a disk with a large amount of existing data on it takes far longer. Make a note of the recovery key and store it somewhere other than the laptop itself. A password manager is the sensible home for it.

Clear out what you did not ask for

New laptops come loaded with trial software, vendor utilities, and assorted tools you will never open. Some of it is harmless; some of it runs in the background, nags you to subscribe, or quietly collects data. Take a tour of the installed programs list and be ruthless.

• Remove trial antivirus packages — you only want one security suite, and the built-in protection on modern systems is usually sufficient for home use.
• Uninstall manufacturer utilities you will not use — keep the ones that handle driver and firmware updates, remove the rest.
• Delete trial versions of office or creative software unless you genuinely plan to buy them.
• Turn off startup entries — check which programs launch at login and disable anything unnecessary, which will noticeably improve boot times.

Be careful not to remove drivers or anything labelled as a system component. If you are unsure what a program does, look it up before deleting it rather than after.

Set up backups before you need them

Backups are the single most neglected part of home computing, and the easiest to fix now while the machine is still empty and the job takes minutes rather than hours. A sensible arrangement has two parts. First, an automatic cloud backup or sync folder for your documents, photos and other files you would hate to lose. Second, a local copy on an external drive, kept somewhere in the house, so you are covered even if your broadband fails or an online account is compromised.

Whatever you choose, confirm it is actually running. Create a test file, wait for the backup to complete, then check that the file appears in the backup destination. Do this once now and you will trust the system later. Set the schedule to run automatically rather than relying on remembering to plug a drive in.

A few habits that keep it running well

With the groundwork done, a small amount of ongoing care goes a long way. Restart the laptop properly at least once a week rather than just closing the lid — sleep mode leaves updates pending and memory fragmented. Keep an eye on free disk space and aim to stay below about eighty-five per cent capacity, as both Windows and macOS slow down noticeably when the drive fills up. Every couple of months, run your update checks again and glance through the list of installed programs for anything you no longer recognise.

Finally, decide where the laptop lives. A hard flat surface gives the cooling system room to breathe, and a cheap stand or riser makes a surprising difference to fan noise and long-term reliability. Treat the first evening of setup as an investment, and the machine will quietly do its job for years.