diff --git a/backend/README.md b/backend/README.md
index c70b803..5eec1ba 100644
--- a/backend/README.md
+++ b/backend/README.md
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 
 *** LOCAL DJANGO ENVIRONMENT SETUP (installing libraries/dependencies) *** 
 
+** If using windows, installing git bash will be helpful as you can execute (most) of the same commands below for linux
+https://git-scm.com/download/win
 
 - install ffmpeg for audio file processing on your system (ubuntu):
 ```
@@ -37,9 +39,9 @@ sudo apt install postgresql-contrib
 
 - Activate python virtual environment on local machine. You'll see '(env)' on the left-most side the terminal signature when activated
 - Ubuntu:
-`. env/bin/activate `
+`. env/bin/activate`
 - windows:
-``
+`source env/Scripts/activate`
 
 - Once your env is activated, install Django and other dependencies (see requirements.txt or just copy/paste this in the terminal):
 ```
@@ -99,7 +101,7 @@ ADMIN_URL=
 - make sure env is activated and set backend env DEV_MODE var:
 `DEV_MODE=True`
 
-
+- make sure the `SECRET_KEY` environemnt variable is set (get it from me)
 - cd to `/backned` directory where the `manage.py` file is and start Django dev server in terminal:
 `DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=main_project.dev_settings python manage.py runserver`