Practical guides
Practical guides
The main article in this section shows how to get your home technology in order in a single weekend, without a technician and without buying anything. The result: devices are updated, key accounts are protected, family photos and documents are stored in at least two places, and your home network is set up securely. Work through the steps at your own pace: each one can be done on its own, and the first three already reduce the risks noticeably.
Don't try to make everything perfect. A tidy setup you actually keep up is better than a perfect system you abandon after a month.
Before you start
- A list of the devices in your home: phones, computers, tablets, router, TV
- Access to the email address and phone number linked to your important accounts
- The login details for your router's admin panel, often printed on a sticker underneath
- An external drive or cloud storage space for the backup
- A couple of free hours on each of the two days
Take stock
Write down which devices you have at home, who uses them and where important files are kept: photos, scanned documents, work folders. Without a list it is easy to forget an old laptop that holds the only copies.
That old phone in the drawer belongs on the list too: it may hold photos that exist nowhere else.
Install updates
Update the operating system and apps on your phones and computers. Updates fix known security holes, which makes them one of the most useful everyday protections.
If a device hasn't been updated for a long time, installation can take a while, so plug it in and start the update in the evening.
Sort out your passwords
Your main accounts, such as email, banking and government services, need different passwords. A password manager is the easiest way to store them. If a password is the only way to sign in, NIST guidelines say it should be at least 15 characters long; a long phrase of several words is easier to remember than a jumble of symbols.
Start with your email: it is used to recover access to most other services.
Turn on a second factor
Wherever a service allows it, turn on sign-in confirmation through an authenticator app or another additional method. Then a stolen password alone will not be enough to get in.
Keep your backup recovery codes somewhere safe, not in the notes app on the same phone.
Back up photos and documents
Copy important files to an external drive and to cloud storage. The widely accepted 3-2-1 rule: three copies of your data, on two different types of storage, with one of them kept away from home.
Open a few files from the backup to make sure they actually open and are not just taking up space.
Check the router
Log in to the router's admin panel, change the default admin password if it has never been changed, choose WPA3 security (or WPA2 if older devices don't support WPA3) and turn off WPS. Check whether a firmware update is available for the router.
The Wi-Fi password and the router admin password are two different things. Both are worth changing.
Free up space
Delete apps you don't use, duplicate photos and large videos that are already in your backup. A device with some spare storage runs more smoothly and has room to install updates.
Before deleting videos, check once more that the backup copy opens.
Write down what you did
A short note for the family: where the backup is, how to log in to the router, who to ask for help. In six months, repeat the check using this list.
You can keep the router note in your password manager, next to the router password.
Common mistakes
- Keeping family photos on just one phone
- Using the same password for email, banking and social media
- Resetting the router with the Reset button without knowing how to set it up again
- Putting off updates for months because of pop-up reminders
- Deleting files from a device before the backup has been checked
- Writing passwords on a sticky note attached to the monitor
Alternatives
- If you're short on time, do just the updates, your email password and a photo backup
- If you'd rather not deal with the router, ask your provider to help you set it up over the phone
- If elderly relatives live elsewhere, go through this list with them on a video call
- If you don't have an external drive, start with cloud storage and add a second copy later
End-of-weekend checklist
- An inventory of devices and important files has been made
- Updates are installed on phones and computers
- Email, banking and government service accounts have different strong passwords
- A second sign-in factor is turned on wherever possible
- A backup of photos and documents has been made and checked
- The router admin password has been changed, WPA3 or WPA2 is on, WPS is off
- A note for the family has been written
Article catalogue for English-speaking readers
This section will feature standalone articles for English-speaking readers. They are written around the questions these readers actually ask and are not translations of articles from other language versions of the site.
- GTA 6 Achievements and Completion Planning: What Players Should Know
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An Aion 2 transcendence guide for players: what is known about the game's PvE, how to prepare legitimately, and what to check before considering outside help.
- Grand Theft Auto VI: Leveling — Resource Planning
A practical GTA VI leveling guide: what is confirmed, why online progression is still unknown, and how to plan time, budget and realistic alternatives.
Topics the editors are planning
- Setting up a smart home safely: what to check before connecting new gadgets
- Choosing between fibre, cable and mobile home internet: questions to ask
- Protecting children's devices at home: settings worth agreeing on as a family
- Moving photos, contacts and messages from an old phone to a new one
Editorial rules
- Articles in this catalogue are written separately for each language version and are not translations.
- Some articles link to third-party websites, including gaming services; we do not control their content, prices or terms.
- We do not publish unverifiable ratings of devices or providers, prices or reviews.
Related sections
- Tools
What helps at home for your network and your data: router, mesh system, external drive, cloud, password manager.
- Security
How to spot phone scammers, what makes a good password and how to protect your home network.
- Troubleshooting
What to do when the internet drops, Wi-Fi is slow or your phone says its storage is full.
Sources
- NIST SP 800-63B-4
- CISA (backup guidance)
- Wi-Fi Alliance
Service features, device settings and password requirements change over time. Before taking an important step, check the official help pages of the manufacturer, your internet provider or the government service.