You’ve just bought a new laptop. What are the first things you should do? Here’s my quick list of simple tips for the average user. These will help you avoid many of the most common computer problems are get your laptop’s health off to a good start.

Uninstall Promotional Software

Apparently it’s not enough that you’ve spent a good chunk of cash for your laptop, manufacturers also feel it necessary to pre-install trial software and promotional offers from their partners. Each one of these unrequested programs, from the trial version of McAfee or that free offer from AOL, takes up resources and contributes in their own way to the eventual slow-down of your computer. Get rid of them.

Click on Start, then Control Panel, then under the Programs section click Uninstall a program and get rid of any of the promotional offers listed.

Install Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials is free, easy, just as effective as the big brands, and won’t clutter or slow-down your computer. This should be the first thing you do when you connect online and once installed there’s no need to every purchase or buy anti-virus software again. If you’re not a fan of Microsoft, a good runner-up is AVG Free Edition.

Get To Know Your Hard Drive

Click on Start, then “Computer”. You should now see a listing of the hard drives on your laptop. In Windows 7 and Vista you will see a coloured bar next to each drive. A healthy computer needs a bit of free space on each drive to perform well. Filling it completely is bad. If the coloured bar is blue, then your drive is healthy, but if it’s red, you’ll need to delete or remove content to free up space and return it to back to a healthy blue. This is a simple check you can perform over time to keep your computer healthy.

Avoid Unwanted Software

All you wanted was a photo editing program, but after you clicked through the installation instructions you ended up with a toolbar, a music manager, and a lousy promotional offer for a free game service. Before you download and install any new programs onto your laptop, be careful to read through the installation windows very carefully. Look for check boxes that have opted you into any promotional offers from the company’s marketing partners.

In most cases such software isn’t nasty by nature, merely aggressive in business practice, but it’s the software industry tricking you into installing something you didn’t ask for and that’s shameful. Unwanted software on your computer will only contribute towards poor performance later on. On the internet, “free” or “more” isn’t always a good thing.

Winamp, for example, is a fine music player, but when you install the program look out for check boxes opting you into deals for the Winamp Toolbar, Search Engine, and 50 Free MP3 downloads.

Pick A Web Browser

With that lesson learned you can now download an alternate web browser if you wish. Windows includes Internet Explorer, but there are benefits to switching to an alternate like Mozilla Firefox (large library of add-on extensions), Google Chrome (good for speed), and Apple Safari (visual history).

Immunize Against Spyware

While anti-spyware programs can take care of the true nasties, it also helps to have a second application to take care of all the annoying ad services too. Spybot Search & Destroy has a great “Immunize” feature that will treat your web browsers with passive protection, proactively arming them against annoying adware during your surfing sessions. Download it, run the immunize feature, and if you’d rather not have two protection programs running feel free to uninstall it and stick with Microsoft Security Essentials as you main protection.

Surf Safely

You’re now ready to explore the web. Keep in mind these safety tips:

No bank or store will ever ask for your information through an e-mail.

Online services will only inform you of changes the next time you sign into their service, never through an e-mail and never through a link in an email.

If you have signed onto a secure webpage, there should be a “s” added to the address like so https://

The most common online scams include promises of free movies, music, TV shows, and porn.

If you are unsure of a service, search its name into Google to see what others are saying about it. The internet is a great place to perform a background check, use it when something seems too good to be true.