Guide

Home Computer Care Checklist

A short list Houston households can use to keep one shared computer from becoming a crisis.

Who this is for

This list is for households that share a PC or Mac and do not have an IT person on speed dial. You do not need to hire The Nerd Network to use it.

Use it after a scare, before a vacation, or when the family computer has started to feel lucky rather than reliable.

Name the folders that would hurt to lose: photos, tax PDFs, schoolwork, and any business files that live at home.

Confirm there is a copy somewhere that is not that one laptop. A USB drive in the same bag is not a backup.

Once a year, open a file from the backup so you know it restores. A backup nobody has tested is a hope.

Every person in the house who uses email or shopping sites should be able to get into those accounts without asking a teenager for the password.

Turn on the extra login step (multi-factor) for email and banking. It is annoying once. It is worse after a stolen password.

If someone called and said they were “Windows support,” nobody in the house should give them remote access. Hang up and call a person you chose.

Let the computer install its own updates. Restart it when it asks. A machine that has not restarted in three months is collecting problems.

Listen for new noises: clicking drives and fans that sound like a leaf blower are early warnings.

If it is more than five years old and slow even after a cleanup, start planning a replacement before it dies on a Sunday night.

Write down the network name and password somewhere the household owns — not only on a sticker under the ISP box.

If video calls die in one room, that is a placement problem, not a character flaw. Note the room before you buy another extender.