Certain life milestones signal the inauguration of adult life. Among them: filing taxes, buying a home... and of course, finally figuring out how to read your electric meter. It's a skill you should know, along with these 9 other household tech fixes and troubleshoots.
There's no need to call an overpriced computer expert when you need to backup your computer. We've rounded up 10 things you should know how to do around the house, along with some of the best "How To" links from Apartment Therapy Tech and around the web. Think of this as a road map to becoming a home tech do-it-yourself'er.
1. Password Protect Your Wi-Fi Because letting your neighbors squat on your wi-fi connection is both illegal and a security risk.
• How to Detect Wireless Internet Thieves
• How to Secure Your Home Network
2. Wall-mount a flat screen TV It's the best way to display a TV without it taking over the room.
• How to Wall Mount a Flat-Panel TV
• 43 Unique Ways to Mount Your Flat Screen TV
3. Backup your Computer Just do it. And trust us, you'll be thankful that you did.
• Best Ways of Creating Computer Backups
• How to Securely Backup Your Data
4. Install and Use a Programmable Thermostat Saves electricity and it saves you money. What's not to love?
• How to Install a Programmable Thermostat
• Install and Program a Programmable Thermostat
5. Remove a Stuck Lightbulb Brush up on this technique before you desperately need it.
• Remove a Broken Light Bulb With Plastic Water Bottle
• The Easy Way to Remove a Stuck Light Bulb (With Tape!)
• Prevent Always-Stuck Light Bulbs with Vaseline
6. Take Great Pictures A good picture is worth a thousand words, but a great picture is like a novel.
• How to Take Photos of Your Home
• Tips For Taking Better Photos of Your Home Office
• How to Take Better Photos for Etsy & eBay
7. Hook Up a Basic Home Theater System Know what you need, know where to buy it and don't ever pay somebody to do this for you. Ever.
• The Five Elements of a Perfect Home Theater
• How to Hook Up a Home Theater System
• How Do I Hook Up my Home Theater?
8. Read an Electric Meter You won't ever get screwed by your electric company again.
• How to Read Your Electic Meter (video)
• How to Read Residential Electric Meters
9. Calibrate Your HDTV Life is too short to watch a less-than-perfect picture, especially when calibrating your TV is this easy to do.
• How to Calibrate Your HDTV in Three Easy Steps
• Make Your TV's Picture Look 100% Better in 5 Minutes
• Calibrate Your TV With the THX Optimizer on Your DVD
• Using Online Forums to Calibrate Your TV
10. Know Your Way Around Your Fuse Box Troubleshoot small home problems by knowing your way around the fuse box.
• Your Home Fuse Box and Fuses 101
• How to Change a Fuse in a Traditional Fuse Box (video)
(Images: 1. Flickr user Kurt Koller licensed for use under Creative Commons, 2. Flickr member Craig1black licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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