The television is worth ten minutes on its own
Modern sets are not just screens; they are computers with an advertising business attached. Two things are worth finding in the menus. The first is any setting related to viewing information, content recognition or personalised recommendations, often buried under privacy, terms or additional agreements rather than picture settings. Turning it off will not break your television. The second is the microphone, if the set has one for voice search. If you have never once spoken to your television, switch it off and see whether you miss it.
While you are in there, run the software update manually rather than waiting for it to happen. Manufacturers issue fixes for exactly the kind of flaws that make headlines, but only if the set is switched on and given the chance to install them. If your television is genuinely old and no longer receives updates, the honest option is to unplug it from the network and run everything through a cheap streaming stick you can replace when it ages out. It costs less than a takeaway and it moves the risky, connected part of the system into a device you actually control.
Fix the router once, benefit for years
Your router is the front door, and most of us have never changed the lock. Log in to it — the details are usually printed on the underside — and do three things. Change the administrator password if it is still the default. Change the Wi-Fi password if it has been shared with a decade of houseguests, plumbers and teenagers. And, if your router offers a guest network, switch it on and put the chattier gadgets on it: the vacuum, the doorbell, the smart plugs. Guests get their own line too, and your laptop with your work files stops sharing a network with a bargain-bin smart bulb.
Then write the new passwords somewhere sensible. A password manager is ideal; a note in a locked drawer is better than a memory that will fail you at the worst moment.
