How to register your new PC

- The first time you turn on a brand new computer, it's very likely that you'll be prompted to register your device with the computer manufacturer. You'll be asked to provide personal information, such as your name and address, as well as the device's serial number, model number, and so on. If you didn't register your device during the setup process, you should do so now. To get started, type Register My Computer With in the Search the Web and Windows box on the taskbar, and then add the computer manufacturer's name. I'll type Lenovo.

Press Enter on the keyboard. From the results, make sure to locate the manufacturer's website and not a third party one. I'll click Lenovo Product Registration. The first thing I have to do here is choose where I live. Then, for Lenovo, I have to login with my Lenovo account. You may or may not need to do this. Once in the registration area, go ahead and work through the Wizard if one is provided. Otherwise, just fill in the required information.

I'll click Personal Use and I'll select a product. You'll do something very similar. Here, it asks for the serial number. Whatever information you're asked for you can find on the box the computer came in or on the underside of a laptop or the back of a desktop PC. Go ahead and continue through the process required to complete your registration. Although this takes some time, it's extremely important to register your PC because it enables the manufacturer to provide better support if you ask for help and enables them to send updates to your computer to keep it healthy.

Once you've completed the registration process, write the information down on a piece of paper, or better yet, in a Word document you can email to yourself, or store online, perhaps in OneDrive. You can even print the document if you like. If the computer is ever lost or stolen, the information contained in here will prove invaluable. Here's a Word document I've started. Before you move on, consider taking some time now to also locate and write down the model and serial numbers for the other computers you own.

You might also consider gathering this information for printers and scanners and similar hardware. This information will prove invaluable should you ever encounter a disaster or a computer failure.