Guest WiFi is not optional

If visitors use the same network as your cameras and laptops, they can see more than the doorbell app. Most homes never split this. The kids’ friends, the plumber, the neighbor who asked for the password last Thanksgiving: they land on the same pipe as your files, your thermostat, and every camera you installed to feel safer.

Make a guest network. Put visitors there. Keep the family devices on the private one. Ten minutes on most routers. Write the guest password on a card by the door so nobody asks you to type the real one into a stranger’s phone.

Then look at what is still on the private network. Printers, TVs, and old tablets often stay open because nobody thinks of them as computers. They are. If you do not need them talking to the rest of the house, they do not belong next to your laptop.

This is not a product pitch. It is the first thing I check when I walk into a home. Do it once. Recheck when you add a new device.