Most people only think about their computer or home network when something's already gone wrong — a virus pop-up, the Wi-Fi dropping out mid Zoom call, or a laptop that's ground to a halt. After 25+ years fixing this stuff around Perth, here's the plain-English version of what I check on every visit, and what you can check yourself in five minutes.
- Is your router actually protecting you?
Most home routers (and a lot of small business ones) are still running the password and settings they shipped with. That's like leaving a spare key under the mat. Log into your router at least once and change the admin password, turn on WPA3 if it's available, and check nothing unfamiliar is connected to your network.
- Do you have a real backup — not just "it's probably fine"?
If your laptop died right now, would you lose the photos, invoices, or documents on it? A proper backup means a copy that lives somewhere other than the machine itself — an external drive you disconnect, or a cloud backup. "I've never had a problem" isn't a backup plan.
- Is something quietly running in the background?
Fans spinning for no reason, the machine slower than it used to be, browser homepage changed without you touching it — these are the early signs of malware, not just "it's an old computer." Worth a proper look before it gets worse.
None of this needs to be complicated, and you don't need to be technical to get it right — you just need five minutes and the right checklist, or someone who does this daily to do it for you.
If you're in Perth and want someone to actually look at it rather than guess, I do same-day computer repair and network health checks across the metro area, including virus removal and Wi-Fi dead-zone fixes.
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