You can typically use your backup software to create a full image drive and then restore it to a clean drive. If you still have a Windows 10 machine using an older hard drive, figure out whether you can upgrade to an SSD. If you have this sort of laptop, I recommend you take it back and try to get a replacement that includes a SSD drive. That’s certainly not the best experience with a new laptop - and it’s a telltale sign Windows should not be deployed on systems with old-fashioned IDE drives. The laptop will return to normal operating conditions once all downloads are completed.” If you purchase a computer that doesn’t have an SSD, you may see something like Costco warned about on its website: “After the initial boot up of your laptop, your device may experience performance lags for approximately the first one to two hours as performance features are downloaded and installed. So now you have a decision to make: Do you want to stay on Windows 11 or install Windows 10 on that new computer (and possibly void a warranty or two)? I do hope you have enough RAM (16GB or more), a processor that can support Windows 11 (even if you don’t want to install it), and more importantly, an SSD drive. And, well, you sort of miss being able to right-mouse-click on the taskbar, or pin things on the taskbar, or doing any number of things you’ve been doing since Windows XP. So, you got a shiny new Windows 11 computer over the holidays, opened it up, and turned it on.

Clean install windows 11