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New Computer Setup and Data Transfer in London

Everything moved across, everything working, and the old machine wiped properly before it leaves your hands

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4.8-star Google rating 25+ years experience Walk-in shop in Putney From £89 Insured, 25+ years

Last updated: August 2026

Overview

The new machine is the easy part

Unboxing a computer takes ten minutes. What takes the time is everything that made the old one yours — twenty years of documents, the photo library, an email account with a decade of history in it, the browser bookmarks you rely on daily, the printer that took an afternoon to get working the first time. We set the new PC or Mac up properly and move all of that across, so the machine you sit down at on day one already knows who you are. Then we deal with the part almost everyone forgets: securely erasing the old computer before it is sold, handed to a relative or taken to the recycling centre.

Full data transfer — documents, photos, music, downloads and desktop
Email, contacts, calendars and browser bookmarks moved across intact
Printers, Wi-Fi, cloud storage and Microsoft 365 all set up and tested
Old machine securely wiped once you have confirmed everything arrived
Data migration included In-store or at your home Old machine wiped safely
The things a quick setup tends to leave behind Moving between Windows and Mac
What you get

What every new computer setup & data transfer job includes

Established and insured

We have run our Putney workshop for over 25 years and the business is fully insured — worth knowing when someone is coming into your home or office. Security and network work is led by a CISSP-certified consultant.

Same-day turnaround is available on many jobs — ask when you book and we will confirm availability and any additional cost before we start.

Features

What a Proper Setup Includes

Full Data Migration

Documents, photos, videos, music, downloads and the contents of the desktop, moved across and checked. If files live in odd places — an old program's own folder, a second drive, a dusty external disk — we go looking rather than assuming.

Email That Still Has Its History

Mail, contacts and calendars set up on the new machine with the archive intact, whether that is Outlook, Apple Mail, Gmail or an old account nobody has the password for any more. Sorting that out is usually the fiddliest hour of the job.

Accounts and Microsoft 365

Microsoft or Apple account signed in, Microsoft 365 or your chosen office software installed and licensed, OneDrive or iCloud configured so it syncs what you want and leaves alone what you do not.

Printers, Wi-Fi and Devices

The printer connected and printing a test page, Wi-Fi joined, scanner working, and whatever else lives on your desk — a second screen, a docking station, a backup drive — plugged in and confirmed working before we hand it over.

Bloatware Removed

New machines arrive carrying trial antivirus, nagging utilities and manufacturer software you did not ask for. We strip out what is genuinely unnecessary and leave the drivers and tools that matter, so the machine is quick from the first day rather than the third month.

Secure Wipe of the Old Machine

Once you have confirmed everything landed safely on the new computer, we erase the old drive properly rather than just deleting files or reinstalling over the top — so the machine can be sold, passed on or recycled without your life going with it.

Process

How the Changeover Works

Simple steps to get your problem solved quickly and professionally.

1

Talk it through

What have you bought, what are you replacing, and what matters most to you? Photos and email top the list for most people. Ten minutes on the phone tells us whether this is a shop job or a home visit.

2

Bring both, or we come to you

In store, we need the old machine and the new one together. At home, we come to the desk where they both live — which is often simpler if the printer and the broadband are part of the job.

3

Set up and transfer

The new machine is configured, the data comes across, accounts and software go on, and everything is tested on the actual hardware rather than assumed to work.

4

Check, then wipe

You confirm the important things are there and open properly. Only then is the old machine securely erased, if that is what you have asked for.

In Depth

What to Expect

Prefer the quick version? The sections above cover most needs. Expand any topic below for more detail.

The things a quick setup tends to leave behind

Most people who come to us for a second attempt at a setup are missing the same handful of things. None of them are exotic — they are simply the parts that take patience rather than minutes:

The email archive

A new account signs in and shows the last few weeks. The decade of correspondence behind it needs the old data file found, moved and reattached, and that step is quietly skipped more often than anything else.

Files outside the obvious folders

Scanned documents in a manufacturer's own folder, a family video collection on a second internal drive, an accounts package storing its data somewhere unhelpful. We go looking rather than copying only Documents and Pictures.

Passwords and bookmarks

Browser favourites, saved logins and autofill details are what make a computer feel familiar. Losing them turns week one into a fortnight of password resets.

The old machine itself

It ends up in a cupboard for two years because nobody is sure whether the data is off it and nobody wants to hand over a drive full of personal life. A confirmed transfer and a proper wipe closes that off.

We would rather spend the extra hour on these than hand you a shiny machine you end up going back to the old one to use.

Moving between Windows and Mac

Switching platform is entirely doable and slightly more involved than staying put. What actually happens:

  • Documents, photos, music and videos move across without drama in either direction
  • Email, contacts and calendars transfer fine, though the mail program itself will look different
  • Windows software does not run on a Mac and vice versa — we identify what you rely on and find the equivalent, the web version, or tell you honestly if there is not one
  • Anything subscription-based, such as Microsoft 365 or Adobe, usually just signs in on the new platform
  • Old programs with a one-off licence key may need repurchasing — better to know that before the changeover than after
  • Printers and scanners are re-added on the new platform; very old models occasionally have no current driver

We will tell you before you commit whether a switch is straightforward for how you actually work, or whether one particular program makes it more trouble than it is worth.

Not sure what you need? We're happy to help.

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Pricing

New Computer Setup Pricing

Starting from

£89

New computer setup with full data transfer starts from £89 in store, or from £120 for a setup at your home or office. The price covers the migration itself — files, email, accounts, printers and Wi-Fi — and a secure wipe of the old machine where you want one. Unusually large photo or video libraries, a failing old drive or several machines at once are quoted before we begin.

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Full data transfer included · Old machine wiped on request · Free collection and return across South West London

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly does a new computer setup include?
Setup means very different things depending on who is doing it, so here is ours in full: the new machine configured and updated, your Microsoft or Apple account signed in, unnecessary preinstalled software removed, office software installed and licensed, printers and Wi-Fi connected and tested — and then the whole of your old machine’s data brought across. Documents, photos, music, downloads, desktop, email with its history, contacts, calendars and browser bookmarks. The migration is the part people find hardest to do themselves and it is included in the price, not treated as an extra. If you would also like the machine explained rather than simply handed over, that is what our patient tech help sessions are for.
How much does it cost and how long does it take?
From £89 in store, or from £120 for a setup at your home or office. Most jobs are done within a working day; the variable is almost always the size of the photo library and the speed of the old machine’s drive. A straightforward transfer of a few hundred gigabytes is quick. Twenty years of photos on a tired old hard disk takes considerably longer, and we would rather let it run at a safe speed than rush a drive that is already struggling. We tell you which of those two you are before we start.
Can you transfer data if the old computer will not turn on?
Usually, yes. A computer that will not boot very often has a perfectly healthy drive behind a failed screen, dead battery, broken power circuit or corrupted operating system, and the data can be read directly. Where the drive itself is the problem — clicking, not being detected, or throwing errors — that becomes a data recovery job rather than a straight transfer, and it is assessed and quoted separately. Bring the old machine in either way; guessing from a description over the phone is not fair to you.
Do I have to buy the computer from you?
Not at all. Most machines we set up were bought elsewhere, online or in a high-street shop, and that is completely fine — bring the box in unopened if you like. If you have not bought yet and would rather not spend new-machine money, our refurbished laptops come tested, cleaned, honestly graded and with a 90-day warranty, and they can be set up and migrated in exactly the same way. We are happy to say when a machine you are considering is more than you need.
Should I replace my computer or upgrade the one I have?
It genuinely depends, and we will tell you when replacing is the wrong call. A machine that is only slow often needs an SSD and more memory rather than a successor. But if it cannot run a supported version of Windows, replacement is usually the sensible answer — our Windows 11 upgrade and Windows 10 migration page explains how to tell which side of that line you fall on. Where a new machine is the right answer, the setup and transfer make it feel like the same computer, only faster.
Will my email still have all my old messages?
That is the single most common worry and the answer is yes, when it is set up properly. Modern accounts such as Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, Gmail and iCloud sync the archive down to the new machine once signed in. Older accounts held only on the computer itself — local Outlook data files, or mail from an internet provider you left years ago — need the data file physically moved and reattached, which is exactly the sort of thing that gets missed. If your mail is tangled across several accounts and devices, our email setup service untangles it while everything is already open on the bench.
What happens to my old computer, and is a wipe really necessary?
Deleting files and emptying the recycle bin does not remove them, and neither does a simple reinstall — the data usually sits there until something happens to overwrite it. Anyone who ends up with the machine could recover a great deal of it with freely available software. So yes, if the old computer is being sold, given to a relative, donated or recycled, have the drive erased properly first. We do it only after you have confirmed the new machine has everything, and if you would rather keep the old drive as a safety net for a few months, say so and we will leave it alone.
Can you set up several machines for a small office?
Yes, and doing them together is more efficient than one at a time. We can build machines to a consistent standard, join them to your Microsoft 365 accounts, set up shared drives and printers, and migrate each user’s data from the machine they are replacing. Old machines are wiped in a batch once every user has confirmed their files arrived. Tell us how many staff and what they use, and we will quote the whole rollout rather than pricing it per desk on the day.

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Coverage

Service Areas

We provide New Computer Setup and Data Transfer in London across South West London

Serving Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Putney, Clapham, Balham, Tooting, and surrounding areas.

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Bought a New Computer?

Bring it in with the old one, or book us to come to you. Everything moved across, everything tested, and the old machine wiped properly when you are ready.

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