The new year heralds the ideal time to take stock of what was and plan for what will be, and this can be applied to your technology too; an ideal time to check that all is working ok with your computers and other technology and to avoid unnecessary problems.

Backups: you may have taken some photos over the Christmas period of your loved ones, and those memories will become more precious over time. Are those pictures backed up somewhere other than your computer, tablet or phone? And if you have an automated backup, have you double checked that it is working?

Updates: these may seem a drain on your time, but computer updates are important. If you ignore them, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to attack and at some point, will find things just stop working. Some software updates are critical, so please ensure you find time to update when prompted.

Security: as fast as the IT security industry make provisions to keep us safe, the criminals find ways of breaching our defences. Cyber criminals are lurking all the time – keeping yourself safe involves ensuring you have a decent antivirus installed and are aware of the latest scams doing the rounds.

Out with the old? Disposing of old tech items necessitates more than just binning them. The data should be erased, but are you sure you don’t need anything stored on your old device? If you are unsure but unable to get your out-of-date equipment to load, data recovery may be the solution.

Yes you can: as technology marches on, we can feel that we are falling behind; but you are never too old to learn. An online search will often yield answers or contact us if you are after some training to get you up to date.