What to Do After Building a PC? Top 10 Lists

Nowadays, most people like to build a computer by themselves. It is not a bad idea since building a PC by themselves helps them to understand the components of a computer and how they work together. At the same time, it would be a good chance for you to learn some knowledge and get some experiences.

However, what to do after building a PC and successfully booting for the first time? If you are a green-hand, make sure to check out the following things to do after building a PC. After building a PC, you should install the operating system, check some settings, update some necessary drivers, etc. Now, we will show you what to do after building a new PC.

What to Do After Building a PC?

In this section, we will show you what to do after building a PC.

1. Configure BIOS Settings

After building a PC, the first thing you need to do is to configure the BIOS settings. BIOS is the software that comes pre-installed on every motherboard and is the main hub of your system whether you can control different basic settings.

To configure BIOS settings, you need to boot your computer into BIOS. In general, you should press the specific hotkey during the computer’s power-on self-test. There’s usually not much you need to do with BIOS. If there are two hard drives on your computer, you should configure the BIOS settings such as boot order, power-saving settings, etc.

After configuring BIOS settings, check the following things to do after building a PC.

2. Test Your Memory Speed

If you installed some nice and fast RAM in your gaming PCs, you need to check the RAM speed on BIOS and check whether they are running at the maximum speed. Then you can use a third-party program such as MemTest86 to test your memory speed.

To do that, you can install the third-party software on another machine and create either a boot CD or boot USB. Then connect it with your new machine and boot from it. Then use this tool to test your RAM speed.

Related article: Here Are Free RAM Test Programs to Check Your Computer’s RAM

3. Install the Operating System

The third thing you need to do is to install the operating system after building a new PC.

Now, we will show you how to install OS on your new computer.

1. Insert the Windows installation media to your computer, enter BIOS to change boot order, and then boot your computer from the Windows installation media.

2. Select language, time, and keyboard input method. Then click the Next button to continue.

3. Click Install Now.

4. Then input the activation license key and click Next to continue. You can also choose I don’t have a product key and activate it later.

5. Select the operating system you want to install.

6. Check the option I accept the license terms and click Next to continue.

7. Choose Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).

8. Then choose where you want to install the operating system.

9. Then follow the on-screen wizard to complete the process and you need to wait patiently.

After all steps are finished, you have installed the operating system on your new PC.

4. Install Hardware Drivers

After installing the operating system, you need to install hardware drivers. You need to install some basic hardware drivers such as a mouse, keyboard and update some necessary drivers.

To install and update hardware drivers, you can go to the Device Manager to do that. You can also install third-party driver update software on your computer, and then it will scan your computer, update the outdated driver and install missing drivers.

5. Connect to the Internet

What to do after building a PC? You should also connect your computer to the Internet. Connecting to the internet depends on your network configuration, ISP, and operating system. Most computers use broadband connections.

Now, here is the tutorial.

1. Connect the Ethernet cable to a yellow LAN port on your modem.
2. Connect the other end of the Ethernet cable of an Ethernet port on your computer or laptop.
3. Make sure that the Ethernet light is green and flashing next to the port.
4. Open up the browser and confirm the Internet works well.

After all steps are finished, the computer is connected to the Internet successfully.

6. Install Antivirus and Update OS

What to do after building a PC? The sixth thing you need to do is to install an antivirus program to secure your computer and update the operating system.

Viruses and malware exist all the time. So, installing antivirus program on your computer is of great importance. If you do not want to install the third-party antivirus program, you can use the embedded one in Windows, and it is Windows Defender. In order to secure your computer, you need to turn on Windows Defender.

Besides, Windows updates usually fix some bugs and install some packs. So, in order to keep your PC safe, you need to install Windows updates.

Now, here is the tutorial.

1. Press Windows key and I key together to open Settings.
2. In the Windows Settings window, choose Update & Security.
3. Then switch to the Windows Update tab to continue.
4. On the right pane, choose Check for updates.
5. Then install the pending updates.

So, you need to wait for the Windows update installation process to be finished.

7. Install Necessary Applications

What to do after building a PC? You should install some necessary or your favorite programs, such as Office application suite, Media player and codes, etc. Most applications can be downloaded from its official website. One thing you need to keep in mind is that download applications from its official website or a secure channel. Otherwise, you may download the software containing malware or virus.

In addition, do not install too many unnecessary programs on your computer, especially when the hard drive storage is not enough. Otherwise, your computer performance will be affected.

8. Create a System Image

What to do with new PC? It is recommended that you create a system image when the computer is new. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention will prevent you from smashing your keyboard in frustration from losing all of your data. SO, do not wait until it’s too late to think about backups.

In addition, creating a system image is a good way to safeguard your computer. If your computer fails to boot due to a system crash, hard drive issues, or some other errors, you can perform some recovery solutions with the system image.

So, what to do after building a PC? Create a system image. To do that, the professional Windows backup software – MiniTool ShadowMaker is strongly recommended. It is designed to back up files, folders, disks, partitions, and the operating system.

Now, we will show you how to use MiniTool ShadowMaker to back up the computer.

1. Download MiniTool ShadowMaker from the following button, install it and launch it to enter its main interface.

MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

2. Click Keep Trial.

3. After entering its main interface, go to the Backup page.

4. MiniTool ShadowMaker chooses the operating system as the backup source by default. So, there is no need for you to change it. If you want to back up the entire system disk, click the Source module and select it as the backup source.

5. Then click the Destination module to choose a target disk to save the backup image. It is recommended to choose an external hard drive. Then click OK to continue.

6. After all steps are finished, you can click Back up Now to perform the backup task immediately.

Once all steps are finished, you have successfully created the system image. After that, you can also go to the Tools page and click the Media Builder feature to create the bootable media, which can be used to boot your computer and perform system recovery solutions when the computer fails to boot.

9. Personalize Your Computer

What to do after putting together PC? The next thing you can do is to personalize your own computer. You can change your desktop, Taskbar, and Start Menu preference. You can also moderate your computer and do some other settings.

10. Transfer Files to the New Computer

What to do after building a new PC? The last thing you need to do is to transfer files from the old computer to the new one. To transfer things, you can choose to transfer things to a portable storage device and then move it to the new computer.

Or, if there are a lot of things, you can choose to copy the partition to another one. Thus, you can try MiniTool Partition Wizard whose Copy Partition feature is able to do that.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

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Bottom Line

What to do after building a PC? After reading this post, we believe you already have the answers. If you get a new PC, do these things. If you have any different ideas of things to do after building a PC, you can leave a message in the comment zone.

If you have any problem with MiniTool program, please feel free to contact us via the email [email protected] and we will reply to you as soon as possible.

What to Do After Building a PC?