Just Installed Windows 11? 10 Essential Things to Do First (2026 Guide)

Last updated on February 1, 2026

So, you’ve just installed Windows 11 on your rig. Whether it was a clean install, an upgrade, or even a workaround on unsupported hardware, you’re in the right place. As a tech professional who sets up systems day in and day out, optimization is my bread and butter. In this definitive guide, I’ll show you exactly what to do after installing Windows 11 to get a perfectly tuned machine: clean, fast, and ready for anything.

Forget the fluff and useless tweaks. This is the exact, field-tested process I apply to every build, updated for the latest 2026 versions of Windows. Let’s cut to the chase and do what actually matters for a flawless user experience.

📋 Quick Checklist: The 10 Essential First Steps

For those in a hurry, here’s a high-level look at the key tasks. I’ll break down each point in detail below.

✅ 1. First Things First: Updates and Drivers

This is ground zero—the most critical step. A fresh install is almost never 100% up to date.

1. Windows Update is Priority #1: Go to Settings → Windows Update and click “Check for updates.” Install absolutely everything that appears, including anything under “Optional updates,” which often contains crucial driver improvements.
2. Reboot and Repeat: It’s common for new updates to appear after a restart. Repeat the process until Windows gives you the green checkmark and says, “You’re up to date.”
3. Manually Verify Drivers: Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager. If you see any device with a yellow warning icon, it’s missing a driver. Windows Update usually handles this, but if not, head to the website of your PC or motherboard manufacturer.

💡 Pro-Tip: For your graphics card (NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel), I strongly recommend downloading the latest driver directly from the official website. This is fundamental to optimizing Windows 11 performance, especially for video editing, design, and gaming.

By the way, if you had to force the install, this guide to installing Windows 11 on an unsupported PC can help with specific driver issues.

✅ 2. Deep Clean: Banishing Bloatware for Good

Windows 11 comes pre-loaded with apps and services most of us never touch. They waste space, consume resources, and clutter the Start Menu. It’s time to debloat Windows 11.

Head to Settings → Apps → Installed apps. Sort by “Install date” and uninstall everything you don’t need. My usual hit list includes:

• The entire Xbox suite (if you’re not a PC gamer)
• Clipchamp, Movies & TV, and other Microsoft media apps (VLC is far superior)
• News, Weather, Cortana
• Widgets (if you prefer a clean desktop)
• Any manufacturer trial software (antivirus, etc.)

💡 Advanced Method with Winget: If you’re comfortable with the command line, you can use the Windows Package Manager for a much faster cleanup. Open Terminal (Admin) and use the command winget list to see everything installed, then winget uninstall "App Name" to remove it.

✅ 3. Functional Customization: Taskbar and Start Menu

A comfortable UI is key to productivity. The default Windows 11 layout isn’t for everyone.

1. Move the Start Menu to the Left: If you’re old-school, go to Settings → Personalization → Taskbar → Taskbar behaviors. Under “Taskbar alignment,” change it to “Left.”
2. Declutter the Taskbar Icons: In the same menu, toggle off the icons you don’t use, like Widgets, Task view, Chat (Teams), and Copilot. Less is more.
3. Tidy Up the Start Menu: Open the Start Menu, right-click on any apps you don’t want, and select “Unpin from Start.” Then, drag and drop the ones you do use into your preferred layout.

✅ 4. Max Performance: Visual and Power Plan Tweaks

Let’s squeeze every drop of performance out of your hardware. These settings are crucial to boost Windows 11 speed.

Ultimate Performance Power Plan

By default, Windows hides its most powerful energy plan. Here’s how to unlock it:

1. Open the Start Menu, type cmd, right-click on “Command Prompt,” and select “Run as administrator.”
2. Paste the following command and hit Enter:

powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61

3. Now, go to Control Panel → Power Options, and you’ll see a new plan called “Ultimate Performance.” Select it.

Visual Effects

Animations look nice, but they consume resources. To disable them:

1. Go to Settings → System → About → Advanced system settings.
2. On the “Advanced” tab, under “Performance,” click “Settings…”.
3. Select “Adjust for best performance.”

💡 My Personal Sweet Spot: After checking “best performance,” I manually re-enable “Smooth edges of screen fonts” and “Show thumbnails instead of icons.” This gives you maximum speed without sacrificing text readability or basic visual functionality.

✅ 5. Privacy First: Taming Telemetry

Dialing in your Windows 11 privacy settings is essential to control what data you share with Microsoft. I recommend being strict.

Go to Settings → Privacy & security → General and turn off all four toggles. Then, check these sections:

• Speech: Turn off online speech recognition if you don’t use dictation.
• Inking & typing personalization: Disable this to stop sending your typing history.
• Diagnostics & feedback: Make sure “Send optional diagnostic data” is turned OFF.
• Activity history: Uncheck “Store my activity history on this device.”

🔒 For even tighter control, I recommend learning how to disable Windows telemetry at a deeper level and changing your DNS for better privacy and browsing speed.

✅ 6. Basic Security Check-Up

Even though we’ve disabled a lot of things, security is non-negotiable. Windows Defender is an incredibly powerful tool when configured correctly.

1. Open Windows Security from the Start Menu search.
2. Go to “Virus & threat protection” and ensure that real-time protection is enabled.
3. Click on “Firewall & network protection” and confirm the firewall is active for the network profiles you use (Private and Public).

Here’s the deal: you probably don’t need a third-party antivirus in 2026. For most users, Defender combined with a secure browser and common sense is more than enough protection.

✅ 7. You’re in Charge: Set Your Default Apps

It’s annoying when you double-click a PDF and it opens in Edge. Let’s fix that.

Go to Settings → Apps → Default apps. Here, you can either search by file type (e.g., .pdf) or by application (e.g., “Google Chrome”) to set it as the default for everything it can handle (web, PDF, etc.).

My must-have changes:

• Web browser: Your choice (Chrome, Firefox, Brave).
• Music player: VLC or your preferred app.
• Video player: VLC, no question.
• Photo viewer: The built-in Windows Photos app is okay, but alternatives like IrfanView are much faster if you need pure speed.

✅ 8. Efficient Installs: Get Your Essential Software

With a clean and optimized system, it’s time to install your tools. Instead of downloading them one by one, use Winget, the official Windows Package Manager.

Open Terminal (Admin) and paste a command like this to install multiple programs at once:

winget install -e --id VideoLAN.VLC && winget install -e --id 7zip.7zip && winget install -e --id Mozilla.Firefox && winget install -e --id LibreOffice.LibreOffice

This single command will install VLC, 7-Zip, Firefox, and LibreOffice in one shot. You can customize it with any of the essential programs for Windows 11 you need. Find their package IDs by running winget search program_name.

✅ 9. Final Tweaks: Taming File Explorer

For total control over your files, the default File Explorer needs a couple of adjustments.

1. Open File Explorer.
2. In the top menu, click “View” → “Show” and make sure these are checked:
   • File name extensions (CRITICAL for security).
   • Hidden items.
3. Next, click the three dots (…) → Options. In the “View” tab, uncheck “Hide extensions for known file types” (if the previous step didn’t already) and “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).” Click yes on the warning.

✅ 10. Lock It In: Create a System Restore Point

After all this hard work, the last thing you want is for a bad update or a rogue program to mess it up. Now is the perfect time to create a “snapshot” of your ideal system.

1. In the Start search, type “Create a restore point” and open it.
2. Select your main drive (usually C:) and click “Configure…”. Turn on system protection and assign it 5-10% of disk space.
3. Click the “Create…” button and give it a descriptive name like “Clean Install 2026 – Optimized.”

🔁 If anything goes wrong in the future, you can roll back to this exact state in minutes without losing your personal files.

✔️ Conclusion: A System Built for the Future

And that’s a wrap. By following these steps, you’ve transformed a generic Windows 11 installation into a streamlined, more private, and personalized operating system. Knowing what to do after installing Windows 11 is the difference between a smooth, snappy experience and months of nagging issues and slowdowns.

With this solid foundation, your PC is now ready to perform at its peak, whether it’s for work, content creation, or gaming. Enjoy it!