The Best and Ultimate Guide for Setting Up Windows 11 [2 extra tips]

Buying a laptop nowadays is not very simple. Thankfully, there are many articles that help us choose the best laptops on our budget. here are the steps to Setting Up Windows 11 or 10 on Both Laptops and PCs to get the Best Possible Performance and efficiency.

We will cover the best system settings, Basic Personalisation Features, a list of Basic software for windows, and a list of Best practices that would probably help prolong the life of our laptop. do follow along to get the best possible user experience from your Device.

If you have not already bought a laptop and are searching for the one that fits you perfectly, Check out our post on How to choose a laptop, or Select one from Our curated lists of Laptops in various Budget ranges.

Make the best out of Windows

Setting Up Windows 11

The first time You boot the laptop, we will be prompted to set up windows on the laptop. it is a fairly simple process, Make sure to provide a password that you would remember, and change the User Name, laptop name, etc to suit your preferences. Set the region and language, and Set a profile picture. Don’t worry, as we would be able to change most of these at any time later on.

Activate Warranty on windows laptop

Almost all the laptops come with a minimum, of one year warranty, and laptops such as the LG grams come with a 3Yr warranty. the first and most important thing to do is to activate the warranty on the windows laptops. Different manufacturers Activate Warranties in different ways. The most common method is via the manufacturer’s Control Software that comes pre-installed with the laptop, For example, Lenovo vantage/ omen command center/ Acer Nitro Sense, etc.

Alternatively, you can visit the website of the respective manufacturer to register the warranty.

Removing Bloatware

Most budget laptops regardless of the manufacturer come with some Bloatware preloaded with windows. Most of the time, along with this Bloatware, there are Apps from Microsoft, which are also not needed, Like Groove Music. it is always a good practice to make sure you only Have the apps that you need. so that they don’t end up hogging a lot of resources in the background or a lot of storage. to uninstall any app, right-click on the windows icon, select apps and features, and select uninstall from options.

List of Bloatware Commonly Found on Budget Laptops

Third-Party Antivirus Software

Believe It or Not, you DON’T need a costly third-party Antivirus to be safe from malware. The built-in antivirus for windows and Windows defender is more than enough powerful to block almost all the malware you would encounter. Sure it won’t Block 100% of malware, But the viruses that manage to escape Defender can easily bypass any other antivirus for which you paid thousands of rupees Just as easily. But even then, you won’t be exposed to the malware that windows cannot detect, as they are very rare, and you won’t find them normally in cracked software.

So what about all those ‘security experts’ who say antivirus is a must? it was until windows 10 came out, and since then, windows defender is more than enough for the average User.

a bigger problem is that most third-party antivirus programs use way more system resources than Defender, to collect data, and some companies like Norton are reportedly Mining Crypto using your Laptop. So the best thing is to uninstall any trial version of the antivirus you have.

Microsoft Defender is amongst the best antiviruses for Windows 10, and Windows 11 (windowslatest.com)

Uninstall Games, and software that comes preloaded

Most windows laptops have a number of games and apps like Solitaire, candy crush, Netflix, Alexa, etc preinstalled. if you don’t use them, uninstall all those apps/ Games immediately, Because whether you use them or not, they will Run in the background Significantly reducing the Battery Life.

Uninstall Microsoft apps that you don’t need

While Microsoft Apps are not just trash anymore and can be pretty useful, there are still many free apps out there that provide a better User experience and feature set than the Native apps. Here is a list of apps you might consider uninstalling

• Groove Music
• the web version of Office
• The trial version of Office
• Microsoft News
• Solitaire Collection
• Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft Maps
• Microsoft Mail
• One Drive
• One Notes
• Outlook

Personalizing the device

While Windows may not be the most personalizable OS, and it may lack the ‘make it your own ‘motto of Linux Distros, it does provide a good amount of customizations, Customisations that are actually relevant and usable for the average end user Like you and me.

This includes themes, colors, Changing Fonts, etc to make the laptop entirely yours you may want to fiddle with the available options, or if you want to have more than the basic options, Try something Like Rainmeter, which can be used to access thousands of skins that can be used to give an entirely new look to your Laptop. below is some customization that is worth checking out.

Installing the most needed Software

Windows Has one of the most diverse and largest Collections of Software. It has almost all apps that are created for multiple platforms, Has a game library as big as PS5 and Xbox, Moreover, it is the best platform for Emulation, and you can find a version of almost all available emulators such as android emulators, PSP emulators, game box emulators, etc. though we cannot list all the best and greatest apps for every scenario, Here are the widely used and best ( according to us, and Best is Objective) apps that you might need.

• Multimedia:
  • PotPlayer: while the go-to media player for most people is The VLC media player, I would like to Suggest PotPlayer. it uses Significantly fewer resources than any other media player, supports almost all media formats, and has a highly customizable, beautiful, and feature-rich user interface when compared with VLC Player.
  • Equalizer APO: Who does not like to tweak the sound a little to match our preferences? Luckily, one of the best applications that can be used to change the audio signature to ones linking is free. Do check it out.
• Utility apps:
  • Winrar: while WinRAR is not exactly free software, it does let us use it for unlimited time, without any limitations. and it is by far the best archive manager on windows.
  • file converter: there are 100s of online file converters that will get the job done, But nothing matches the speed and simplicity of open-source software. It can virtually convert from all of the commonly used file types to one another, and is a must need you to focus on Productivity
  • FreeDownloadManager: Windows has many good browsers, But none features a download manager that has anything more than basic downloading Functionality. the free download manager is a fully featured and free open-source download manager that gets most of the jobs done.
• Development:
  • Visual Studio Code: One of the most widely used Code editors, it comes with a TON of extensions that make it capable of any programming language and workflow. It is completely Free, heavily customizable
  , and By far the best general IDE to work with. but unlike IDEs that focus on just one Language, you should install compilers if you want to use languages like C++, Python, Java, etc.GitHub: GitHub is the most recognized
  • and widely used version control system. it provides free and unlimited features for every developer to use and Grow. the desktop version comes with a version control system and has a GUI for tasks that need to be performed through the terminal.
  • Chocolaty: One of the most loved features of Linux systems is the ease of downloading, installing, or updating Software. Even though windows lacks the functionality to do so, is chocolatey. it will be very helpful if you have to install a ton of command line utilities, Compiles, etc.
  • Libre Office: Microsoft office is the Best and most used word processing suite money can get. But the obvious Downside to this is that money should be paid to get the Full set of features from Microsoft office. One of the Free alternatives that don’t suck is the Libre Office Suite. it has most of the features that Microsoft Office offers, as well as the capacity to open, edit and save Microsoft Office-compatible software.
• Messaging and Social Media:
  • Telegram: it is one of the most feature-rich and widely used messaging platforms regardless of the OS. its features and speed rival multibillion-dollar companies like WhatsApp. the messaging app fully supports windows with various optimizations, Unlike WhatsApp which gives barebone functionality over the desktop app.
  • Whatsapp: As much as the windows and web version of WhatsApp lacks features, having barebone functionality helps a lot. And provided you cant migrate to telegram as every other people in your chat uses WhatsApp, WhatsApp Desktop is a must.
• Other Apps:
  • Browser: Just use the Default edge Browser, I know most people think that it is a complete waste, But just like I said, that is because you have not used the latest edge. it runs on the same Chromium base that chrome works on, But is optimized to work with up to 30% less ram while loading the same web pages, also while being easy on the battery.
  • 3-D Software: Blender is the one and only name that comes to my mind. it is a versatile app that can be used for rendering, 2-D and 3-D animation, etc, and comes as free in a world where pretty much any other software could cost tens of thousands of rupees
  • Photo Editor: PhotoShop and premier pro are the undisputed champions in editing, But unless you want to use a cracked version for the same, Try out GIMP. it is not as feature-rich as Photoshop, But more than enough for most people.

Best practices while Using your Laptop

Now that we have set up our Device to give the best performance it can, let’s look into things that we should do in order to increase the life span of our Device.

charging From 20-80%

Always charge your laptop, mobile phone, or any other device that is powered by a lithium-Ion battery from 20-80 to get the best life span possible. the reason for the same is explained in the post Here Is Why You Should Never Charge A Mobile/laptop Battery To 100% – Asas Tech.

Avoid installing cracked software from unknown sources

Installing Cracked software in itself will not do any harm to your windows laptop if you know what you are doing. apps from unknown sources may contain malware hidden, and the fact that we need to disable antivirus to install them makes our PC vulnerable to malware attacks. So install cracks only from reputed sources.

Stop unnecessary app Startups

you can right-click on windows to get the task manager and take the tab named app startups, then Disable the apps you,t always need.

If you need any more suggestions or Help regarding setting up windows Or want us to help you choose a laptop that suits your needs, contact us on WhatsApp or via chat down below.