What To Do First With New Laptop... Advice

Easy John

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Just looking for some advice on what to do first with new laptop. I finally decided to purchase one after life getting in the way of things over and over. I pestered McGuire over and over for many months (since last year, I think).:lol: Poor guy.

Anyway, I've got the ASUS X5410. Hope I made the right choice, but, ah, to hell with it if I didn't. I've set the thing up and all that, installed all the recommended apps and everything, along with the optional ones, because what the hell, you know?

Anyway, the real reason I've made this thread is to get an idea of what to do first after setup. Like, which security package should I set up. Avast or AVG, or maybe something else. I was recommended free Avast as an app to download for security, which I did, but I don't know if it's set up and running or not. How do I check this?

What else should I look out for? I'm all new to this Windows 10, I think it is. I've been using Windows 7 for years on the PC I'm using right now, but the laptop I got and the Windows it's running seem so futuristic by comparison. And I think the Windows wanted me to link my Hotmail to it in some way, but I've not done that yet. I've put nothing personal on it just yet. Just want to get some healthy advice before using it... well, I have browsed official sites, but that's it.

What about security... this time I mean while using wireless internet. I don't want my idiot family either giving me viruses or messing with me in any way, and, let's be honest, not too sure I'd want them spying on me or my files when I put the files on there. Just want pure privacy from family and anyone else in public areas who could become a threat, because, you know, public. Not much more to say on that.:lol:
 
Also, what should I be mindful of? What should I monitor and clear... something about the cache and I've heard of defragging.
 
As far as security goes from what Carnage and a few others here have suggested to myself as well they suggest Malwarebytes and using a free anti virus such as AVG/Avast. Personally I would probably go AVG over Avast as I always find Avast a little heavy on the resources.

Make sure you go to the manufacturer website for your hardware and download the most up to date drivers as well and stay up to date on those.

Microsoft Edge and Cortana are really awesome features in Windows and you should use them if you want faster response times together. (Even though I use Chrome over Edge browser)

_________

Something to consider though from what I found online about your model you only have 3GB of ram and it's a Dual Core Athlon CPU? You may have a hard time being able to really run both AVG and malwarebytes not sure that's something you may have to test out for clarity.
 
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As far as security goes from what Carnage and a few others here have suggested to myself as well they suggest Malwarebytes and using a free anti virus such as AVG/Avast. Personally I would probably go AVG over Avast as I always find Avast a little heavy on the resources.

Make sure you go to the manufacturer website for your hardware and download the most up to date drivers as well and stay up to date on those.

Microsoft Edge and Cortana are really awesome features in Windows and you should use them if you want faster response times together. (Even though I use Chrome over Edge browser)

_________

Something to consider though from what I found online about your model you only have 3GB of ram and it's a Dual Core Athlon CPU? You may have a hard time being able to really run both AVG and malwarebytes not sure that's something you may have to test out for clarity.

I've found the opposite, personally as far as AVG / Avast. My recommendations are either Avira or Avast - both are free.
 
As far as security goes from what Carnage and a few others here have suggested to myself as well they suggest Malwarebytes and using a free anti virus such as AVG/Avast. Personally I would probably go AVG over Avast as I always find Avast a little heavy on the resources.

Make sure you go to the manufacturer website for your hardware and download the most up to date drivers as well and stay up to date on those.

Microsoft Edge and Cortana are really awesome features in Windows and you should use them if you want faster response times together. (Even though I use Chrome over Edge browser)

_________

Something to consider though from what I found online about your model you only have 3GB of ram and it's a Dual Core Athlon CPU? You may have a hard time being able to really run both AVG and malwarebytes not sure that's something you may have to test out for clarity.

Thanks for the info. I really should recheck the specs on this thing. But, yeah, I've been using Chrome. Edge was kind of slow. I was checking out some websites that have a lot going on, like IGN, and Chrome is way better and faster than Edge was.

What's so great about Edge anyway?
 
I've found the opposite, personally as far as AVG / Avast. My recommendations are either Avira or Avast - both are free.

Well, I did get free Avast as an app when I got up and running with the laptop on its desktop. Are there different kinds of free Avast? Should I begin using the Avast app already installed, or download it from the Avast website or wherever it is?
 
Once you decide on which AV to use and get it installed and after you have your laptop all configured the way you like it, my advice is to use software like the free Macrium Reflect to create an image of your laptop's drive. Don't rely on the mfr's restore disks or partition since if you ever restore from them, your laptop will be right back to how it was configured the day you brought it home from the store.

It's also a good idea to periodically create a new system image in order to keep the image up-to-date with your computer's latest configuration as you install/uninstall software and make tweaks here and there.
 
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