What to Install on New PC and How to Install it Quickly?

What should I do after getting a new PC?

Getting a new PC is very exciting. You may have envisaged what to install on new PC and what to download on a new PC before you purchase it. But do not rush because no computer is perfect. And you need to make some adjustments before you can put it into everyday use.

We'll walk you through a to-do list about what you should do after getting a new PC to help you set up your new computer and reaches its maximum performance:

✦ Turn on the power
✦ Check everything is OK
✦ Update or Clean install OS
✦ Install your favorite software
✦ Prepare security software or antivirus
✦ Optionally make a backup
✦ Ready to boost performance
✦ Get rid of your old device

What to install on new PC?

From the list above, you can know what to install on new laptop. There are two necessary things you have to do to make sure your PC is ready for daily use.

1. Windows 11/10 system

Generally speaking, some computers are produced with an operating system that is pre-installed by the manufacturer. For these computers, there is no need to reinstall the OS. However, some computers have no pre-installed system, which requires you to install Windows 11/10 system in the first place. Only in this way can you begin to enjoy your new computer.

2. Favorite software

The next thing you want to install must be your favorite software or some programs in need to keep your normal use. For example, if you're a game fan and change a new computer, what to install on new gaming PC must be your favorite games.

How to install Windows and favorite software on a new PC manually?

Since what people concern most are the installation of Windows system and their favorite software. So, this part will show you how to manually install Windows and software when you get a new PC.

Stage 1. Install Windows 11/10 from a bootable USB flash drive

To get the Windows system installed on your computer effortlessly, I recommend you use a bootable USB flash drive. The procedure is very clear and simple: create a bootable Windows 11/10 installation USB and install OS on new PC from the bootable USB.

Note: The latter content will take Windows 10 installation as an example, you can also apply the same way to install Windows 11 on your new PC.

Preparations:
▷ A USB flash drive with at least 8GB free storage space.
▷ An idle computer where you’ll download Windows 10 installation media from.
▷ Steady and continuous network connection.

Then, follow the three parts to install Windows 10 from USB on a new PC.

▶ Part 1. Create a Windows 10 installation USB

Step 1. Connect the prepared USB to a normal PC. Go to official Microsoft website and download the Windows 10 installation media on the computer.

Step 2. After downloading, launch it, and choose "Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file)" in the "Windows 10 Setup".

Step 3. Select language, architecture, and edition and click on "Next".

Step 4. Choose a USB flash drive and finish the remaining settings according to the prompts.

Step 5. Choose your prepared USB flash drive from "Removable drives" and then, hit "Next".

Step 6. Once completed, Windows 10 will be installed to the USB device and unplug it from the computer.

▶ Part 2. Boot from Windows 10 installation media

Step 1. Plug the bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive to your PC.

Step 2. Boot the computer, and press and hold the BIOS key right away (usually F2, Del, F10, or F12) until the BIOS screen is displayed.

Step 3. In the BIOS setting, navigate to Boot Manager and set the bootable USB to be the first boot device.

Step 4. Save the settings and exit from BIOS. Then, your PC will boot from the Windows 10 installation media.

▶ Part 3. Reinstall Windows on new hard drive

Step 1. When the computer boots again, you will enter Windows Setup automatically. There, enter your language and other preferences and click on "Next" to proceed.

Step 2. Then, click "Install now".

Step 3. In the "Activate Windows", enter your key or skip it by clicking "I don't have a product key".

Step 4. In the new window, select "Custom: Install Windows only(advanced)".

Step 5. Select the drive you want to install Windows on, click "New" and then click "Next".

Step 6. Wait the installation to be completed patiently.

After installing, remove the USB drive from your computer.

Stage 2. Download and install your favorite software one by one

Then, you can begin to download any software you want to install on your new PC. Note that you'd better get the software from a trusted platform, otherwise, you're risky to get virus or malware simultaneously. You can refer to the following three ways.

1. Microsoft Store. For Windows, you will be able to download software from the Microsoft Store. Simply type "Store" in the search bar and click "Microsoft Store" to open it. Then, you can search and download software you need.

2. Software installer. If you have the installation package of your favorite software, you can directly finish the setup and install it on your computer.

3. Web browser. The third way is to use various web browsers such as Google, Bing, and Baidu. Just input the software name on the search bar and click "OK", then download the relevant software from the result.

An easier Way to install everything to a new PC from the old one (clone disk)

Actually, the simplest and quickest way to install Windows system and software on a new PC is to clone them from an old hard drive to the new one, rather than fresh installing them. That's where AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional comes in. Its "Disk Clone" feature not only copies system and software but also files and folders to the target disk, which greatly saves your time and energy.

In addition, this ultimate partition manager offers various features to organize your hard drive:

✔ Create/delete/clone/merge/format/resize/move partition and check disk error.

✔ Convert partition scheme between MBR and GPT and convert file system between FAT32 to NTFS.

✔ Clean junk files, delete large files, move programs from one drive to another, and more.

Preparations:
▷ A well-performed computer running on Windows 10 or 11(depending on which system you plan to install on your new PC). 
▷ Take out the system disk from your new PC and connect it to the Windows 11/10 computer.
▷ Download AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional on your prepared computer.

Here is a demo version of AOMEI software, you can download it and follow the below guide to have a try:

Step 1. Launch and open AOMEI product. Go to "Clone" and "Clone Disk".

Step 2. Select a disk clone method as you like. "Clone Disk Quickly" is chosen by default, which clones only used space to another disk.

Step 3. Select your original hard drive as the source disk and click "Next".

Step 4. Then select your new system hard drive as the destination disk and click "Next". Tick "Optimize the performance of SSD" to make SSD 4K alignment if your destination disk is SSD.

Step 5. Then, you are allowed to resize the partitions on the new drive. Select the one you like and click "Next".

◆ Copy without resizing partitions: The size of partitions on the source disk will be copied on the new disk without any change.
◆ Fit partitions to the entire disk: The partitions on the source disk will occupy the entire destination disk.
◆ Edit partitions on this disk: It allows you to adjust the size of partition manually, you can set the size as you like.

Step 6. After reading a note, click "Finish" and then click "Apply" to commit the operation.

Step 7. When the clone is done, reject the system disk and reinstall it back to your new PC. Restart your new PC and boot from the cloned hard drive, you will get a computer that is exactly the same as before.

Bonus tip: Wipe your old PC before throwing it away

After figuring out what to install on new PC, let's discuss what to do with your old device. Since you’re most likely to dispose of your old PC by throwing it away directly or selling it to other people, please remember to erase everything from your computer to prevent privacy leakage. The "Wipe Hard Drive" feature of AOMEI software is a great choice to do the irrecoverable cleaning.

Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, right-click on the disk you want to wipe, and choose "Wipe hard drive".

Step 2. Here you can choose a wiping method as you like, and click "OK".

Step 3. Then, click "Apply" to execute the operations.

Conclusion

What to install on new PC? Windows system and your favorite software are two essential parts that you can't miss for everyday use. In this passage, you are shown a common way about how to install Windows 11/10 from a bootable USB and download software from different channels, however, it has so many steps and looks a little difficult. Luckily, AOMEI Partition Assistant provides you with a more convenient and efficient way to install Windows and software on your new PC. If you are using Windows Server computers, you can use the Server edition to perform disk clone.