Highly Useful Out-of-the-Box Laptop Tips

At last, you finally bought your very first laptop computer. You carefully pull it out of its box and then fire it up for the first time. Next, you go through the Windows setup and you're all set. Wrong! Your brand new laptop is not yet good to go unless you perform some other tweaks to make it perfectly your own. Below are some handy out-of-the-box laptop tips that you may find useful, especially if you're a first-time owner of a brand new laptop.

TIP #1: Run All Windows Updates

Regardless of how recent your notebook computer since its date of release, there are still lots of Windows updates you may need to install since then. There's a big possibility that the minute you power on and connect your notebook to your network, it will automatically download the updates. However, it may be ideal to configure your laptop to get Windows updates to download manually onto your laptop's system. So here's how to do it:

On the Start Screen, click on the search icon (magnifying glass), then type "windows update" on the search field. Next, click on Check for updates from the search results, then click on the Check now button to start searching for updates on the Internet. If the software finds any new updates, click on View details, then check the Select all important updates box before hitting the Install button.

TIP #2: Transfer Files and Programs from Your Old Computer

Your laptop will feel yours once it contains all the important data and favorite applications. Depending on how many files you have on your old computer and where you stored them, this process may actually take a while to finish. Services like Dropbox can make the transfer easy if you've already backed up your old computer to the Cloud. Otherwise, you can use an external hard drive or a USB flash drive to move your files and applications back and forth. Make it a point to get all the contents on your Pictures, Music, Video, and Document libraries.

TIP #3: Install the Latest and Greatest Browser(s)

Windows 8.1 is bundled with a fresh copy of Internet Explorer 11 that automatically updates though there are a number of users who prefer Google's speedy Chrome browser or Mozilla's very flexible Mozilla Firefox browser. Download whichever browser you feel comfortable using with to start surfing the Web.

TIP #4: Install Some Great and Useful Freeware

It would be awesome if your new laptop is packed with new and powerful software as well. And since you just pulled it out of the box, this would be a perfect time to start installing some programs that will help you make the most out of your laptop. Check out these software that will be a great addition to your new portable system:

• Windows Essentials - Microsoft's free software pack for the desktop UI features a great email client, a competent video editor, an instant messaging app, blogging software, and a photo editor.
• Paint.NET - This software is a great alternative to Photoshop; providing a simple yet powerful image editing interface.
• Filezilla - This is the perfect tool if you need to upload or download files to and from an FTP server.
• WPS Office - This program is a free office suite that has a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application that can open and edit Microsoft Office-compatible files. Some new PCs come with a trial version of MS Office 2013, but WPS is totally free.

TIP #5: Pin and Create Hot Keys for Your Favorite Apps

Once you're done with installing all your favorite software, it's time to pin their shortcuts to both the Start Screen and the desktop taskbar to make them easier to launch. Creating hot keys for these apps is also great so that you can launch them without lifting your hands off of your keyboard. Here's how to accomplish this task:

Let's deal with creating a hot key first. Right-click on any desktop mode shortcut, then select Properties. Next, enter a key combination in the Shortcut key field, and then hit [Enter]. It would be better to use [Ctrl] + [Alt] + a key in order to avoid any conflict with other apps' shortcuts.

Next, pin your app's shortcut to the taskbar by right-clicking on a shortcut in the apps menu, Start Screen, or the desktop, and then selecting Pin to Taskbar. The icon of the app will take a permanent place on the desktop taskbar. If you want to pin the app to your Start Screen, right-click on a shortcut, then select Pin to Start. The app's icon will appear on the Windows 8 Start Screen afterwards.

TIP #6: Uncombine Your Taskbar Icons

Windows 8.1's desktop mode combines an applications' windows into a single taskbar icon with no descriptive text by default, which makes the taskbar look more like the Dock in Mac OS X. This can be difficult for some to keep track of the windows or distinguish between a pinned shortcut and a running program. To get separate icons for every window, right-click on an empty area of the taskbar, then select properties. Click the drop-down menu next toTaskbar buttons, then select Never combine. Click the Apply button to save your changes.

Those are just some of the things you can do after getting your laptop computer right out of the box. This will make it more easier, personalized, and enjoyable to use because you've just customized it the way you want to it to be.