Prepare shiny new PC before using it

So you're one of the lucky ones who had a shiny new PC under the tree? Congratulations. Before you fire up your new copy of "Call to Glory 2" or "Halo," you need to do some maintenance.

The first, if you have a Windows PC, is antivirus software. Really. Before you do anything.

I know . . . you think your PC came with antivirus protection. It may have, but your work is not done. If it came with Norton antivirus, you need to double-click on the icon and complete the install process. Then run Live Update to get the latest virus definitions. Then note the date of expiration (most PCs come with 90 days of coverage). About a week before that date you need to decide if you're going to keep it or install one of the free solutions out there. (If you decide to keep Norton you may be better off buying a complete version in the store. With rebates they often are much cheaper than renewing.)

If you have McAfee preinstalled on your new PC, I would uninstall it immediately and install a free product. It's not just a bias . . . in my computer repair business I have seen dozens of McAfee-installed PCs that are riddled with viruses. Something either about McAfee's online-only product or the configuration just lets viruses pass through.

For a free product I would use AVG (free.grisoft.com). Update it every week or so and you'll be fine. (There are other free antivirus products available too, including Avast. You can see a selection at File Hippo, www.filehippo.com. While you're there, get the excellent CCleaner, a free app that cleans Windows hard drives of junk.)

The next step is to uninstall all of the applications you don't want. (I was hired to set up a new Dell the other day, and it took me 30 minutes to remove all of the stuff on the hard drive the customer didn't want, including a pesky "free" trial version of Quickbooks.)

Next? Run Windows update (update.microsoft.com) and install all of the current Windows patches and set your PC up to receive automatic updates.

If your PC came with a trial version of Microsoft Office, your next decision is whether to fork over the dough for a full version. If you have a student in the house you can qualify for a cheaper Academic version, but if you can't make yourself pony up the dough you can consider the Word Perfect suite or Microsoft Works, which offer enough performance for most. If you want to spend nothing, get OpenOffice, a powerful office suite for free (www.openoffice.org).