A new computer out of the box is not ready. Between the first start-up and a genuinely usable machine, there is half a day's work.
That explains the frequent disappointment on first use: preinstalled software nobody wants, documents left on the old machine, email to reconfigure, a printer nowhere to be found, and passwords that cannot be tracked down. Setting the machine up is precisely about dealing with all of that.
Documents, photos, email and bookmarks transfer in full. Software has to be reinstalled, but its licenses are usually reusable - provided they are recovered before parting with the old machine. What is lost without precautions: passwords saved in a browser with no syncing, and the preferences of certain business programs. That is exactly what we list before starting.
Ten minutes on your side saves a great deal of time. Note the software you actually use - not what is installed - and for each one the license or account attached to it. Check whether your email is read through a program or through a browser, which changes the procedure completely. And flag any business software with its databases, often tucked away in hidden folders nobody thinks to include.
Our article on transferring your data to a new computer sets out this preparation.
A consumer machine arrives with a dozen programs nobody asked for: limited trial versions, manufacturer utilities, an antivirus good for three months, demonstration apps. Each one launches at start-up and claims its share of memory.
The real cost is not only the slowness. It is also the antivirus that will expire without warning and leave the machine uncovered, and the trial version that will start showing payment reminders in two months. We do this clear-out before even transferring your data: the machine starts on a sound footing rather than inheriting clutter from day one.
Delete nothing for two months. Keep the old machine intact, or at least its disk, until you are certain nothing is missing. It takes several weeks of use to notice that a document template, an email archive or an old folder did not come across.
A disk kept for a few months costs nothing; data deleted too soon is gone.
Once the transfer is verified, if you sell, give away or recycle the computer, simply formatting it is not enough: the data remains recoverable with any off-the-shelf tool. Two reliable methods: a secure erase that rewrites the whole disk, or simply removing the disk and keeping it.
It is a much neglected point, when secondhand computers regularly hold their former owner's tax documents, personal photos and passwords. We handle this erasure and the recycling of the replaced equipment.
It is not transferring the files, it is the half hour spent with you afterwards. Finding your bearings on a newer system, understanding where the documents went, knowing how the backup we have just set up works: that is what makes the difference between a machine you use and a machine that stays intimidating.
We always take that time, and we leave a written note of the key points. See also training at your home for fuller guidance.
Setting up a work machine adds a few steps: joining the network and the file shares, access rights matching the user's role, business email, business software with its connections to the server, and inclusion in the central backup.
We also handle several machines arriving at once, configured identically from one to the next - which makes support considerably simpler afterwards. See IT asset management.
At your home or at your premises, which allows the peripherals and the network to be configured in their real environment. See work at your home. We also supply the hardware if you wish: new, refurbished or custom-built.
Half a day generally, longer if there is a lot of data or if many business programs have to be reinstalled.
Usually yes, with the original license. Some require deactivation on the old machine first: worth checking before parting with it.
Those saved in a synced browser come across automatically. The others are recovered before the transfer, a point we deal with from the outset.
Keep it for a few months as a precaution, then have it securely erased before giving it away, selling it or recycling it. Formatting alone does not protect your data.
Can't find your question? It may be in our full FAQ.
Everything worth knowing before you hand over your equipment.
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What the households and businesses we work with have to say.
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You get it back ready to use, with your data and your habits.
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