Windows survival skills: 8 things every PC user should know how to do

Your PC will die, someday. Or it will slow down, generate error messages, or — worse still — get hacked. While you could always call a professional, why not solve the problem yourself? And you can, just by learning some basic Windows tasks yourself.

You’ve learned how to take care of yourself in the real world. Your PC is no different. You’ll need to maintain it, protect it, and keep it fed with data at all times.

Nothing in this checklist is particularly complicated or even hard. But it’s basic knowledge that you should already know. And if you don’t, we’re here to help!

Manage Windows Update

Windows Update governs all of the changes Microsoft brings to your PC. Some of these are critical updates to Windows itself, needed to solve some unexpected vulnerability or bug. Others are new features that Microsoft wants to add to your PC. Finally, Microsoft periodically adds new virus signatures and other improvements to the Windows Defender anti-malware system, allowing you to surf the web without fear.

PixieMe / Shutterstock

Most of the time, Microsoft’s Windows Updates take place in the background, without your intervention, as a convenience. But it’s important to know where to look (inside the Windows Settings menu, then in the Windows Update submenu) to understand what Windows Update can and can’t do. Would you like to try out the latest updates as soon as they’re available? Conversely, would you like to pause updates for a certain period, like during an end-of-quarter reporting period or exams? Or even roll them back? Would you like Windows Update to manage other Microsoft products, too?

Windows Update is one of the least intensive tasks within Windows. But it’s also critical to the safety of your PC.

Dig deep into Windows Settings

For that matter, there’s more to the Windows Settings menu than just Windows Update. It’s here that you’ll find all of the features and functionality within Windows, organized into separate categories. Do you want to increase the size of the text because you forgot your glasses? See Settings > Accessibility. Want to pair a new set of earbuds? You’ll find that in Settings > Bluetooth & devices.

PCWorld

The number of Windows Settings options may seem overwhelming. On the left-hand side of the Settings menu, however, is a small search box that can help find what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, the search box is looking for specific query topics. (Some alternatives are programmed in: In Windows, your monitor is called a “display” but the search box will recognize both terms.)

It’s perfectly fine to complain about how Microsoft or Windows does certain things. But you owe it to yourself to at least see if you can solve the problem yourself. The Windows Settings can help.

Stay safe online and within Windows

Simply protecting yourself from bad guys is a combination of anonymity, smarts, luck, and common sense. Windows Defender is a solid though not totally foolproof way of protecting yourself online from downloadable malware, and thankfully Microsoft’s app pretty much manages itself.

Chris Hoffman/IDG

But protecting your digital keys — passwords — via a password manager or some other method is an absolute must in this day and age. The best VPNs hide and encrypt your digital identity, so you can slip surreptitiously past criminals and companies who have no rights to watch you as you surf online. Windows has tools like Windows Sandbox to provide even more protection. Finally, you need to bank on your experience and common sense not to click on every provocative link and email that you see, minimizing your online risk.

best vpn overall

ExpressVPN

Read our review

Best Prices Today: 4,76 € at Express VPN

We’re not here to dictate that you must use a VPN or password manager. But there are risks to surfing online, and you should know what Windows provides, what it doesn’t, and what additional options are available to secure your PC — even if you don’t use them.

How to back up and restore data

Of late, Microsoft Windows has begun pushing hard for you to back up your PC into its OneDrive cloud. For some of you, this is a huge annoyance, as Microsoft has begun flipping on automatic backup by default: on your Desktop, Photos, Documents, and Video folders. That backup process can rob you of available bandwidth and impact the broadband data cap your ISP imposes.

Foundry

But knowing how OneDrive and backup works, and even restoring that data on a new PC, may save you enormous time and effort as Microsoft simply performs those tasks in the background. Likewise, understanding what apps and data might not be backed up should be something that you take time to learn about, too. Apps typically are not backed up; neither is their associated data. But many games are.

To its credit, Microsoft has quietly simplified the process. Autosaving a Microsoft Office (Microsoft 365) document is almost automatic, and you can basically log on to any new PC and automatically provision it to authenticate you to Microsoft 365 and keep working. But it’s still worth knowing what works and what doesn’t.

How to install and uninstall software and services

These days, “installing” software doesn’t even require you to insert a disk or a DVD-ROM. You simply click an “installer” and the whole process proceeds from there.