You been waiting, saving some money, and looking for the right one. Finally after a lot of trouble(maybe) you got it; a brand new PC (laptop or desktop). Now what? Well; if you brought yourself a new Mac you are pretty much set after installing Firefox. But if you're stuck with a Windows PC now the real work starts: getting rid of all the junk that comes with it.
Most PC vendors, in order to get a few bucks here and there or to create a false sense of value, preinstall a slew of programs in hope that you stick to some of them, that is part of the marketing game. This programs run from a silly CD/DVD burner program to trials of office productivity suites to antivirus software that work for 3 to 6 months the least and don't offer any more protection that a free counterpart, like MS Security Essentials or Avast. More often than not, these programs are totally unnecessary, and to a point, they can also be a burden to the user and to the system itself.
Now, here is what separates the noobs to from the leets. You'll need to uninstall all that bloat from your PC so that your system can work at its best abilities. Sometimes achieving this is a simple affair. Go to the control panel, then to programs and features (this depends on the version of the OS but it's almost the same for every flavor) and uninstall all those apps that you don't need. But for the best results, sometimes you are better off reinstalling the operating system.
Most often; in order to do this, you'll need some kind of physical media with a copy of the Windows OS that you want to install on the PC and the Windows Product Key for that particular version (assuming that you'll use Windows). These days, some manufactures don't include an actual disk in the package, this can be solve asking for one when you order or contacting their costumer service departments. Sometimes they will charge a small amount but is well worth the hassle. You can also burn a DVD on some system with your copy of the OS. If you are reinstalling the same version that came with the PC, your Windows Product Key should be on a sticker at the bottom of your laptop, stuck to one side panel of the PC tower or in the documentation that came with your computer. Also if you are upgrading to a better version, you can still use the same key, paying for the upgrade of course. Also, you can borrow a Windows Vista or Windows 7 DVD to do the re-installation using your product key (this will determine the version that gets installed).
At the end of this process you should have a blank canvas to build your PC experience. Being free of all that stupid software that comes preinstalled, makes it really easy to customize the experience to your better liking an also, frees those really important resources so the really necessary processes and applications run as smoothly as they can.