Youv'e Got Your Computer Now What

Ok so you have your computer and your are thinking what do I do now? If you bought a laptop its easy. Plug it in for a while and let that battery charge up. You can log in right away and follow the standard prompts and questions. They should be simple questions like, what time zone are you in, how do you plan to use this computer biz, home or both. before you know it you are in your new system.

If you have a desktop you have a few more steps. First you have to connect everything. There should be a diagram in the box explaining all this with pretty pictures. If you did not get there here is what you do. In the back of your computer you have lots of ports in different shapes and colors.

First plug in the power cord. One side in the wall and the other usually somewhere near the top backside. The picture on the right is a decent example. It is the three prong socket on the top right hand of the picture.

The next thing is your video cable. Now make sure that the color matches the port. If you have a blue cable it should go into the blue VGA port. If it is a white connection at the end of the cable then this is DVI. This means that you will have a sharper more clear image. Nothing should be forced only a snug fit.

Next if you have speakers you will want to plug those in and then look for the small cable with the green tip. On the back of your computer there will be three or four small round ports usually, and will be the size of a headphone jack. Match the color with the green port. Red will be for the mic. If you don't have a mic don't worry. You will not need it to operate your computer.

The only thing left are all those small square ports. These are called USB ports. You can plug many different things into these. Primarily your keyboard and mouse might fit into this.

If the end of your keyboard and mouse cables are purple and green then they are P/S2. You have to be very careful with these. Force them in the wrong way you will bend the connector and make your mouse and keyboard useless. Make sure to line them up right before you put them in. Again do not force it just a snug fitting.

Now you should have everything connected. Next time we will talk about drivers and making sure you have everything ready to go and even on what to uninstall.