Bought a new computer, now what?

You can arrange things before the new device arrives. Make sure you know which files you want to transfer to the new system. And create a Microsoft account if you don’t already have one.

If you use an email address that ends with one of the endings below, you already have a Microsoft account. In that case you do not need to create one.

• @hotmail.com
• @hotmail.nl
• @live.com
• @live.nl
• @msn.com
• @msn.nl
• @outlook.com

If you don’t have a Microsoft account yet, create one before you start using the new computer/laptop. How to create an account can be found in the ‘Create a Microsoft account’ article.

Back up the files on your current computer. That’s useful anyway. You can later use that backup to restore files to the new system. Read more about backing up in the article ‘Windows 10: How to backup’ or ‘Windows 11: How to backup’.

If you find that too much of a hassle, there is an even simpler option: use OneDrive. That is Microsoft’s free online storage service that comes standard in Windows. OneDrive works with a special folder on the computer. All files in that folder are kept online. Put all important files in this folder on your current system. After you set up the new computer, this OneDrive folder will be updated with all your files. You can read how OneDrive works in the article ‘Working with OneDrive’.

When the computer is started for the very first time, it is necessary to make a number of basic settings. The exact order of the steps below depends on the Windows version present on the computer. The options on your system may be slightly different for that reason.

• Turn on the new PC/laptop.
• If you need to indicate a region, check whether ‘The Netherlands’ is selected. If not, select it and click Yes.
• For language, choose ‘Dutch’ and click on Next one (or Yes).
• In the time and currency format, also choose ‘Dutch’ and click Next one (or Yes).
• Now choose the correct keyboard layout, that is United States, and click Next one.
• click on Install now.
• The computer may restart.
• The user agreement appears on the screen.
• Read the user agreement if you like. It is not mandatory.
• click on Agree.
• Connect to a network. Select your own WiFi network if you do not use a fixed internet cable.
• Place a check next to Connect automatically.
• click on Make a connection.
• Enter your password and press the Enter key.
• Select the privacy settings for your device.
• Set all sliders that are set to ‘On’ to from.
• Put the disc under ‘Diagnostics’ on Base.
• click on Agree.
• Now sign in with your Microsoft account. Enter the email address and click Next one.
• Enter the password and click Next one.
• The system is now ready for further use.

When the system is ready, the Lock screen will appear. By default there is a nice photo.

• Click anywhere on the Lock screen or press the spacebar.
• The welcome screen appears. Here you have to log in with your user account.
• Enter your password or PIN and press the Enter key.

Every time the computer starts, this screen will appear and you will need to log in first.

In Windows, the Mail app is installed by default. This is a mail program to manage mail. Regardless of what kind of email address it is. Whether it is a Microsoft, Google or provider account. You add the account and then you can use the program to receive and send e-mail.

If you use an email address from the provider, you can add the address to the Mail app and manage the corresponding emails.

Before adding the provider’s email account to Mail, have the following information ready:

• The email address provided to you by your provider.
• The username provided to you by the provider (sometimes this is your email address, but not always).
• The password that goes with it.
• The address of the server handling the incoming mail.
• The address of the server that handles outgoing mail.

You can add an account in the Mail app.

• Open the Mail app from the Start menu.
• click on Add Account.
• click on Other account.
• Enter your email address under ‘Email address’.
• Enter your name under ‘Send messages with this name’.
• Click in the field below ‘Password’ and type the password.
• click on To register.
• click on Ready.

If you are unable to add the provider account in this way, continue with these steps:

• If you are unable to log in, click on Try again until you see more options appear in the window.
• Now take the data that you have looked up in preparation.
• Enter the username and optionally the account name.
• Type the server of the incoming e-mail.
• Choose under ‘Account type’ for POP3 or IMAP4. You can only choose IMAP if the provider also supports IMAP. With IMAP, the e-mails are visible in the program, but in principle the e-mail also remains on the provider’s server. With POP, the mail is retrieved from the server and is only stored in the Mail program.
• Type the outgoing e-mail server.
• click on To register.
• click on Ready.

An Outlook.com email address is also a Microsoft account. But a Microsoft account doesn’t always have to be an Outlook.com email address. Since you set up a Microsoft account when you start up the new computer, there’s a good chance that Mail already contains the corresponding account. But if not, add an Outlook.com account like this:

• Open the Mail app from the Start menu.
• click on Add Account. Can’t you see that? First click on Accounts.
• click on Outlook.com.
• click on Email address, phone number or Skype name and type the email address.
• click on Next one.
• Enter the password.
• click on To register (Next one).
• click on Ready.

If you use Gmail, add the account in Mail like this:

• Open the Mail app from the Start menu.
• click on Add Account. Can’t you see that? First click on Accounts.
• click on google.
• Enter the email address.
• click on Next one.
• Enter the password.
• click on Next one.
• Scroll down and click To allow.
• Enter your name and click To register.
• click on Ready.

Do you have files you want to transfer to this new computer? Under the heading ‘Select files to transfer’, you can read how this is done. Now it’s time to put the files you selected on the computer. If you have chosen OneDrive, the files should now be in the OneDrive folder.

Want to restore the files you backed up? Then do the following:

• Start the Windows Explorer. (Click the File Explorer icon once or use the keyboard shortcut Windows Key+E.)
• Under ‘Devices and drives’, click USB drive.
• click on FileHistory.
• You will now see a folder with the name of your user account on the old PC. Click on that folder.
• Click again on the folder you see.
• Now there is a folder called ‘Data’. Click on that.
• Below are several folders that contain the files you want to transfer.

Select the folders and/or files you want to transfer to the PC. If you are not sure how to do this conveniently, read the article ‘Organize files in Windows’.