TECH TIP: HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS? SHOW RELATIVES YOU CARE WITH SOME TECH SUPPORT

It’s time for the holidays, which means robust family conversations and seemingly neverending courses of food. But for the more techsavvy among us, the journey home could also mean we’ll be called on to provide a backlog of tech support to parents, grandparents and other family members.

And with generative AI being used to supercharge some major cyber scams this year, it’s also a good time to teach and not just fix.

Here are some tips on how to manage your tech encounters this holiday season:

SET DEVICES UP FOR AUTOMATIC UPDATES

Whether it’s Windows, macOS, iOS or Android, simply keeping your operating system and apps up-to-date will help protect your family’s computers and devices against a surprising number of security threats, such as malware, viruses and exploits.

Most operating systems, especially those for mobile devices and their app stores, typically have auto-updates turned on by default. Be sure to double-check the device to make sure it has enough storage space to carry out the update. (More on this below.)

Keeping apps updated may also reduce the number of “Why isn’t this app working?” type of questions from your relatives.

FREEING UP STORAGE SPACE

Chances are someone in your family is going to have a completely full mobile device. So full, in fact, that they can no longer update their phone or tablet without having to purge something first.