1 - Starting your new Windows 10 PC

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1 1 - Starting your new Windows 10 PC Even starting a Windows 10 PC can cause some surprises. In this lesson we will take a look at what happens when you first power on a factory fresh Windows 10 machine. Don t worry if you ve already gone over these steps, there is nothing here that you can do wrong or can t change later. 1.1 Initial personalisations The very first thing to do on your Windows 10 PC is choose your language, time zone and location settings. Figure 1.1 shows these settings. Figure 1.1 Choose your regional and language settings To change any values, click (or tap) the boxes and then select from the list that appears. To scroll through values with your finger, use a swipe (see lesson 7.2). To navigate with your mouse, you can drag the scroll control or click the arrows. Click or tap on Next when you are done. The screen shown in figure 1.2 will then appear.

2 Figure 1.2 Accepting the license agreement To use Windows 10 you must agree to this license agreement. If you need to review it, simply scroll down the text. Click or tap on Accept when you are done. The screen shown in figure 1.3 will then appear.

3 Figure 1.3 Choosing options and reviewing privacy policies The screen shown in figure 1.3 will offer the choice of Use Express settings or Customise settings. For simplicity, new users should choose Use Express settings. All settings can be changed later once you re more comfortable working with your PC. If you want to know exactly what express settings will configure, click on the Learn more link near the bottom of the screen. We only cover the express settings in this guide, but we do show you how to change some of those settings later. Click on Use Express settings. If you re using Windows 10 Professional or Enterprise, you will see the screen shown in figure 1.4. Otherwise, you will skip directly to the screen shown in figure 1.5. Figure 1.4 Who owns your PC?

4 If your PC is owned by your employer, school or college, you should probably check with them before setting it up. Otherwise, click on I own it and then click Next. The screen shown in figure 1.5 will then appear. Figure 1.5 Microsoft are very keen for you to use a Microsoft account with Windows 10, but you don t have to 1.2 Choosing a Microsoft or a local account The setup process now presents you with an important choice. You can sign in to your PC using a Microsoft account or you can use a regular Windows account. What is the difference between each type of account and why was this change introduced? Microsoft are keen for users to sign in with a Microsoft account. When you do this, settings will be synchronised between all the PCs you own and you will be automatically signed into the Windows store. This can be very convenient of course. You might already have a Microsoft account and not even be aware of it. If you use Hotmail or Outlook.com, your log in for these services is your Microsoft account. The same log in is used for OneDrive and Xbox Live too. If you don t have a Microsoft account, you can sign up for one at this point too, by clicking Create one. Why might you want to use a regular Windows account instead? You may consider that linking all of your Microsoft services like this to be a security risk. Malware designed to steal Windows log in credentials has appeared in the past and now that Windows credentials can be linked to online accounts too, they become even more valuable. Although Microsoft take steps to mitigate accounts being stolen, as we ve seen in the media

5 there s always that danger. Personally, I prefer to keep my Microsoft password in a password manager and use a standard log in for my PC, this means I can use a much longer password than I could normally remember for my Microsoft account. In Windows 10 you can log into your PC and Microsoft account by using a PIN. This PIN is only valid for the PC you re currently using and helps keep your real Microsoft password more secure. The PIN however, can only consist of numbers and not letters, so you may not consider it good enough security for a laptop you carry with you on the road, for instance. We cover password managers briefly in the last chapter and we look at Microsoft accounts in more detail in lesson 37. The other reason you might not want to log in with a Microsoft account is if you have a home network setup. Perhaps you or a technician or family member has configured devices like media streamers or network attached storage (NAS) boxes in your home. In this setup, these devices may be protected with user names and passwords that prevent certain family members from accessing each others files. In this case, you might want to continue using a regular, old fashioned Windows account rather than reconfiguring all of your network to accept new user names and passwords. The choice of which type of account you use is entirely up to you. You can add new accounts of both types later, or even switch an old style account to use a Microsoft account or vice versa. Even logging in without a Microsoft account, you can still access features like the Windows store, you will simply be prompted to enter Microsoft account credentials when you access the store. A small number of features such as Cortana, that we cover in lesson 23, are only available if you log in with a Microsoft account. For this example we will create a local account. Microsoft accounts require an active internet connection the first time you use them, so it s usually a good idea to create a local account first just to get up and running with your PC. If you do want to create a Microsoft account now, go to lesson 37.3 to see how the process is slightly different. Otherwise, click on Skip this step and the screen shown in figure 1.6 will appear.

6 Figure 1.6 Creating a local account Fill out a user name, password and password hint for your local account. These details will then be stored locally on your PC. Remember that the password hint can be seen by anyone who has access to this PC, so don t make the hint too obvious. Click on Next when you are done. Once you are done configuring your account, Windows will prepare it. When the configuration is complete, the desktop will appear. You ve now set up your new Windows 10 PC and you can proceed to the next lesson.