Finding out when your Windows installation was made (or when your PC was first used, if only a single operating system has ever been installed)

Sometimes, you take an older Windows machine, and start to think when did I actually install this machine for my use? This recently happened with my laptop, when I started chatting about laptop durability with a client.

Although there are many different ways to find this information, I think the most straightforward way is to check the creation date of the first profile folder under C:\Users in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

For instance, if you logged in first as the user "JDoe", when open up File Explorer, navigate to C:\Users (or the localized alternative), and right-click your profile folder. Select properties from the popup menu, and note the creation date.

This should be pretty close to the real installation date.

Note that you cannot simply take the creation date of the C:\Windows folder; this is simply the creation date of the WIM image structure from Microsoft or your brand-maker; this more accurately reflects the manufacturing date, not the installation date when you started using the system.