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Windows tip of the week

Change your computer name


By Ed Bott


When you set up Windows 10 on a new PC (or do a clean install on an old PC to get a fresh start), the Setup program automatically assigns a random name to your PC, such as DESKTOP-4U27S15. If you use any network sharing features with your PC, it's worth changing this name to make the PC easier to identify in a listing.


You'll find the computer name on the System > About page in Settings, under the Device Specifications heading. There, you'll also find a Rename This PC button, which opens a dialog box showing the current name and offering a box where you can enter the new name.


Your new computer name can be up to 15 characters long and must not be the same as another PC on the network. You can use letters, numbers, and the hyphen character but you can't use any other symbols, punctuation, spaces, or special characters such as emoji. You also can't create a computer name using all numbers.


After you enter the new name, you need to restart the PC to make the change effective.

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