9 things I always do after setting up Windows 11 – and why you should too

On a system you personal and handle personally, you have got two selections for organising your major consumer account: a Microsoft account, or a neighborhood account. (In case your PC is in a managed company setting, you will have both a website account otherwise you’ll check in with Entra ID, previously generally known as Azure Energetic Listing. Both means, your administrator is the boss, not you, and this text does not apply to you.)

Previous-timers will in all probability desire a neighborhood account as a result of it is what they’ve used for many years. Nevertheless it’s the fallacious alternative today, at the very least in case you care about safety. 

Additionally: How to upgrade your ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 in 2025

Utilizing a Microsoft account offers you three benefits you may’t get with a plain-vanilla native account:

• You possibly can activate two-factor authentication and Home windows Good day, which lets you check in utilizing fingerprint or face-recognition {hardware}.
• You possibly can defend the contents of your system drive with robust encryption, even in case you’re utilizing Home windows 11 Dwelling version (to ensure encryption is turned on, go to Settings > Privateness & safety > Gadget encryption).
• You should utilize Microsoft’s account restoration instruments to get better your encrypted information in case you neglect your password.

And, in fact, if in case you have a Microsoft 365 Household or Private subscription that makes use of your Microsoft account, you get quick entry to Workplace apps and a terabyte of cloud storage.

You are not required to make use of the Microsoft-supplied electronic mail deal with for something however this single objective. And in case you create a brand new Microsoft account as a part of the Home windows 11 setup, it isn’t linked to any present telephone quantity or electronic mail deal with, which implies the deal with cannot be used to trace your on-line exercise.

The very last thing you need to do is make a bunch of customizations, solely to find that one thing went fallacious with the preliminary setup and you need to begin over. So, earlier than transferring on, undergo this guidelines:

• Verify that the proper Home windows version is put in and that it is correctly activated. You may discover these particulars in System > Activation.
• Proper-click Begin (or press Home windows key + X) after which click on Gadget Supervisor on the Fast Hyperlink menu. In the event you see any entries with a crimson X or a yellow exclamation level, it is advisable discover and set up the proper driver.
• Open Settings > Home windows Replace and get the newest updates. You would possibly have to restart at the very least as soon as to complete putting in all obtainable updates.
• Verify with the PC producer’s help website for any up to date drivers that may be obtainable for system parts. Pay particular consideration to BIOS updates and chipset drivers.

Your Begin menu might be cluttered with shortcuts to apps you do not want and can by no means use. PC makers, for instance, love to put in trial variations of antivirus applications, within the hopes that you’re going to purchase a full subscription and so they’ll get a fee. 

Within the Home windows 10 period, Microsoft lower offers with third-party app builders to sprinkle shortcuts across the Start menu on each new set up. A few of these shortcuts represented third-party apps and video games, which have been presumably positioned on this high-value actual property in trade for bounties paid by the house owners of these third-party apps and providers. Usually, they included apps for streaming-media providers (Spotify, Disney+, Prime Video) and social media (TikTok, Instagram, and Fb).

Additionally: The 11 Microsoft apps I ditch on every new Windows install – and the 11 I keep

Microsoft seems to have ended these offers, based mostly on my current expertise putting in Home windows 11. However they might come again anytime, and so they would possibly nonetheless be hanging round on PCs which are a number of years previous.

The excellent news is that these shortcuts aren’t put in by default. They take up minuscule quantities of disk house, and every one could be eliminated rapidly.

In comparison with its predecessors, the Windows 11 Start menu is severely simplified. It has a bit for pinned icons on the prime, and beneath that could be a Advisable part, which exhibits shortcuts to apps and paperwork you have used not too long ago. On the backside of the menu are your profile image and an influence button — and that is it. A new Start menu is within the works, however it’s rolling out very slowly.

To make the Begin menu a bit extra helpful, go to Settings > Personalization > Begin > and make a number of customizations. Use the choices on the prime to alter the allotment of house between the Pinned and Advisable sections. You possibly can’t disguise the Advisable part, however you should utilize the switches on that web page to cover shortcuts that might in any other case seem. 

While you transfer to a brand new PC, essentially the most painful a part of the method is reinstalling your entire apps and their settings. That used to contain a tedious technique of trying to find the installer information, downloading them from the developer’s website, and hoping that you simply weren’t tricked into putting in a malware-laden faux app as an alternative.

In the event you dread that prospect, I’ve excellent news. Many of the apps you utilize recurrently at the moment are obtainable in trusted repositories which are managed and vetted by Microsoft. Prior to installing a brand new app, verify to see whether or not it is within the Microsoft Retailer, which now consists of conventional Home windows desktop apps. If it isn’t there, strive utilizing the Winget command-line device. 

For many who cringe on the considered utilizing a command immediate, set up the UniGetUI tool, which wraps an easy-to-use shell across the Winget repository.

On a contemporary set up of Home windows 11, Microsoft assumes you need to use its Edge browser. Your different information are going to open in Microsoft apps as nicely. PDF information will open in Edge, audio and video information within the Media Participant app, and so forth.

After you put in your most popular apps, ensure they’re set because the default. Go to Settings > Default Apps, click on the menu itemizing for these third-party apps, and alter no matter must be modified. 

One notably pesky setting is the mailto: affiliation, which I’ve discovered at all times needs to open within the Outlook (new) app as an alternative of Outlook (traditional). 

Positive, Home windows is working nice proper now. However you understand the day will come when one thing goes sideways and it is advisable make a number of small repairs.

When that day comes, you may be very pleased that you simply had the foresight to create a bootable USB restoration drive. And in case you add the Home windows set up information to that drive, you may simply reinstall Home windows and get again to work.

I’ve full directions right here: How to create a Windows recovery drive in 4 easy steps – before it’s too late.

In the event you signed in with a Microsoft account, then your system drive is encrypted by default.  in case you’re operating Home windows 11 Professional, Enterprise, or Schooling, you may encrypt any drive and you do not want a Microsoft account. (Nevertheless it’s nonetheless a good suggestion — see Merchandise 1 on this checklist!)

That encryption is powerful and, for all sensible functions, unbreakable. If one thing occurs to your PC, you would possibly end up unable to learn these information with out supplying a 48-digit restoration key.

The entire directions are right here: “How to find your BitLocker recovery key – and save a secure backup copy before it’s too late.”

In the event you signed in to Home windows with a Microsoft account once you arrange your PC, go to https://microsoft.com/recoverykey and check in with the identical account (private or enterprise). That opens a listing displaying the restoration keys for all units the place you have used that account. 

This can be a killer characteristic if in case you have Home windows 11 Professional, Enterprise, or Schooling. It permits you to immediately spin up a secure virtual machine (VM) with none advanced setup. The VM is totally remoted out of your essential system, so you may go to a suspicious web site or check an unknown app with out threat. While you’re achieved, shut the sandbox, and it vanishes utterly, eradicating all traces of your experiment.

Additionally: How to upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Pro – without overpaying

Though it makes use of the identical virtualization options as Hyper-V, you needn’t activate Hyper-V, and it makes use of solely a tiny quantity of system sources.

To get began, click on Search and sort Home windows Options, then click on the shortcut to open the “Flip Home windows options on or off” dialog field. Scroll to the underside of the checklist and click on the field to the left of the Home windows Sandbox characteristic. After you restart, you will discover a Home windows Sandbox shortcut on the Begin menu.