A Tech To-Do Record, if You’re the Household IT Division

Jameeka Inexperienced Aaron, chief information-security officer at identity-authentication firm Auth0, usually does this for her family and friends. She gave me two recommendations on speaking tech at dwelling:

Hold it easy. “The extra friction and complexity you introduce, the much less doubtless that your loved ones will maintain the settings that you simply implement,” she stated.

Rip from the headlines. Ms. Aaron makes use of the information to assist folks perceive tech threats and the way these threats apply to their lives. “Folks reply extra brazenly when the messaging hits dwelling,” she says.

Together with her steering in thoughts, I created a guidelines of useful options and settings to arrange on members of the family’ gadgets. And sorry, no, none of the following pointers will stop the printer from appearing up. (The printer will all the time act up.)

Add a digital shortcut to their vaccine card

Most institutions will settle for a easy photograph of a vaccination file, however these get shortly buried within the photograph library. Including the cardboard to their digital pockets is the quickest method to pull it up on the go. iPhone customers with a file from a supported pharmacy or state immunization system can level their digicam on the file’s QR code, and will probably be pulled into

Apple

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Pockets.

Android customers first must entry their digital file from their well being supplier through electronic mail or textual content. As soon as the vaccination data is seen on display screen, scroll down and press “Save to Telephone.” Then, when prompted, select to put it aside to

Google

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Pay.

You can even pin a photograph of the cardboard to the highest of Apple’s Notes app or Google Drive.

Activate machine location monitoring

Machine monitoring helps find telephones, tablets, laptops—even AirPods—ought to they be misplaced or stolen. On Apple gadgets, your family members can do that within the Discover My app. If they’ve an Apple Watch, present them the right way to remotely ping their cellphone by swiping up; faucet and maintain the cellphone icon to power a sound and flash. On Android telephones, it’s accessible in Discover My Machine. Present them “Hey Google, ring my cellphone” utilizing a Google House speaker.

Add an emergency contact

Have they already arrange Favorites contacts? Make certain in addition they add an emergency contact. On iPhones, these contacts—which will be added within the Well being app inside the Medical ID part, or in Contacts beneath a specific individual’s entry—will obtain a message with the cellphone’s location when the Emergency SOS perform is activated. (When you’re at it, advocate including a legacy contact, who can entry their Apple account knowledge after they die.)

Android customers can add emergency data to their lockscreens.

Clear their storage

“I don’t have any extra space on my cellphone!” is the most typical criticism I hear. Do an audit of their apps and delete any they are saying they haven’t utilized in six months. In the event that they actually need them sooner or later, they’ll all the time obtain them once more.

Then search for different bloatware. For iPhone customers, head to Settings > Basic > iPhone Storage. You may handle and delete apps’ knowledge from this web page. In Android’s Settings, choose Storage. Faucet on an app to clear that app’s cache or the storage it makes use of. You may additionally see a “Unlock area” device, which suggests large recordsdata to delete.

Verify app subscriptions

Subscriptions have gotten out of hand, and your family members could also be on the hook for recurring funds they’ve forgotten about.

iPhone customers: Open Settings, faucet your title after which Subscriptions. Android customers: Go to the Play Retailer, faucet Menu and choose Subscriptions. On

Amazon,

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go to your Account and click on Memberships and Subscriptions.

If you’re poking round, additionally take a look at the permissions granted to apps. “A procuring app shouldn’t have entry to the microphone or digicam,” Ms. Aaron says.

Handle spam and keep away from scams

In the event that they’re getting numerous robocalls and texts, including their quantity to the FTC’s Do Not Name Registry might assist lower down on undesirable calls. Additionally inform them to not click on on hyperlinks or reply: By answering the cellphone or texting “STOP” or “NO,” they might assist scammers affirm the quantity is lively.

Diverting texts from unknown senders might additionally assist. On iPhones, go to Settings > Messages to activate Filter Unknown Senders, which sends texts from individuals who aren’t in your contacts to a separate tab. Block folks by tapping on their cellphone quantity and scrolling right down to Block This Caller. In Android, open the Messages app and increase Settings. Choose your SIM card and scroll to Spam Safety to allow the function.

Arrange password managers and two-factor

Don’t wait till somebody has stolen their id or wiped their checking account. Whereas I like password managers comparable to Dashlane and 1Password that perform on as many platforms as attainable, the best and greatest match for the much less tech savvy are the built-in ones like Apple’s iCloud Keychain and Google’s Password Supervisor. Plus, they’re free. And Apple’s is enhancing: There’s an iCloud Passwords browser extension for Chrome on Home windows machines, and now you can simply export passwords when you do change to a extra full-featured supervisor.

Don’t overlook to have them activate two-factor authentication (often known as 2FA) on all of their apps, and remind them by no means to share these codes—or actually every other login data—with anyone. For even easier logins, allow biometrics, comparable to face recognition or their fingerprint, wherever attainable.

Give them a Wi-Fi improve

My colleague Joanna wrote a terrific information to dashing up dwelling web. If they’ve an outdated router, a brand new fancy mesh system can be a terrific last-minute Christmas reward.

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Write to Nicole Nguyen at nicole.nguyen@wsj.com