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There are isolated problems with current patches, but they are well-known and documented on this site. |
PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley I’m doing something vastly different this week. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that this article is a bit shorter than
[See the full post at: How do you install and patch your new computer?]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Also, the password is not the PIN.
The password is set up when you create the account. It is the key to logging in to your account if you have a Microsoft account. Remember it because…..
You create a PIN to use logging in to your computer. You get used to using a PIN for logging in. It is local to your computer and is not the key to logging in to your MS account. If you need to access your MS account, you will need your password.
You can sign in to a Microsoft Account with a PIN:
What is Windows Hello?
Windows Hello is a more personal way to sign in, using your face, fingerprint, or a PIN. You can use Windows Hello to sign in to your device on the lock screen and sign in to your account on the web.
Sign in to your Microsoft account with Windows Hello or a security key
You can even dispense with the password:
How to go passwordless with your Microsoft Account
But until three years ago you couldn’t access Safe Mode using a PIN:
PIN support will go live in Windows 10 20H1 feature update
Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.2361 + Microsoft 365 + Edge
Hi Susan,
As always your detailed explanation is quite clear and useful.
Please consider to add something like BEWARE OF OneDrive to your “Windows 11 Setup Tips for Consumers”.
If you accidentaly activate it as I did setting up my new DELL PC, the program/service will modify the directories on your User setup in a way that is difficult to reset.
Best regards,
Jorge
I’ll apologize for this long post now. Rather than post a bunch of disconnected paragraphs I just copied Susan’s post and annotated in bold where I did something differently. Please note these are just MY OPINIONS!
Moderator Susan here: Note the copyright. I have removed the contents of the post and just left Bruce’s comments.
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Windows 10 Setup Tips for Consumers
Susan Bradley, April 2023
Don’t worry about this as I don’t connect it to the internet until I have the basic setup completed. Yep, setting up a LOCAL account. The above is step 1b. Step 1a is inserting a USB Macrium Reflect Boot disk and USB Storage (HDD or SSD) drive before I turn it on and then booting using Reflect to take a full image BEFORE it is setup. Makes it much easier to return the device if necessary or even when passing it on to someone else down the road.
While you’re at it after deleting the trial stuff, and making sure you have COMPLETELY removed it, check Windows Defender’s settings. Especially, running it in the SandBox and checking for PUPs (potentially unwanted programs)
A big fan of StartAllBack (paid) or Open Shell (free). In conjunction with those I also set up a toolbar in the Notification Area to give me access to all my most used stuff (it’s a lot!)
I’m still not connected to the internet. Load the GRC tool from a USB Stick, or use GPO if running PRO. Also set Windows update to Pause updates for 28 days!
At this point I also take steps to remove Documents, Videos, Music, Downloads, etc. to a different drive (In my case a physical one) partition which I always label G, a holdover from the setups in my working days). This is done with the Location tab on the folder properties in File Explorer.
I’d recommend another Image backup at this point. Now you can safely connect to the internet.
IMHO, a Microsoft 365 (Office) Home account is the best deal going. You actually get 6 users with 1Tb of OneDrive each. If you’re a heavy Excel or Word user it’s worth the money for you alone, not to mention other family members. Keep an eye on Amazon around Christmas and you can extend your license for effectively $50 USD since Amazon gives you a $50 gift card with the license! I usually keep my subscription out for 2 years just in case I miss a deal at Christmas.
Here is where PowerShell comes in very handy. I’ve written a program that not only allows me to change many common registry settings via a menu interface, but it also saves those settings to a file. I can transfer that file from one computer to another and run the program ant it will set all of my usual settings automatically insuring I have things the way I like them. I’m currently working on another powershell program to automatically install my standard software via the Winget package management systems. Keeping with this trend I also have powershell to export all my Scheduled Tasks and load them on another computer. These three programs make it much easier to keep my 3 computers in sync.
An Image backup of your previous computer can be MOUNTED as a drive to easily extract things you missed, at least if you’re using Macrium Reflect. Probably, also with other backup programs but I’m not familiar with them. So there’s no need to mess with VMs in the next item.
Don’t discard or pass that old drive. Instead get a USB drive dock. These are available for about $30 USD and can mount 3.5” & 2.5” inch drives. Bingo you have a new drive for Image Backups which you WILL take on a regular basis! If your old drive is an NVME M.2 drive you can get an enclosure for that too and make a supersize USB Stick or another drive for Images.
Here’s where the moving of those folders out of the C: partition (Step 11 comments above) I can simply restore them from the Image backup of that partition.
IMHO a driver which works should be left well enough alone! Only download drivers when they don’t work.
Thanks for your understanding that this is meant to be a benefit for supporters of the site.
I don’t buy new computers, I buy new components and DIY new computer replacements.
I am at a loss to know how to transfer the Pro key to another computer.
Microsoft will activate Pro on a transfer installation if it’s the correct key, and if the previous installation is not active. You won’t have to do anything.
When I did my hardware upgrade about nine months ago, Windows 11 Pro activated without issue.
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