The summary.
ASSESS WHAT A USER CAN ACTUALLY DO
It determines how to explain anything. Confidence does not indicate competence, and hesitancy does not indicate its absence.
Teach whatever removes their immediate obstacle — abstract instruction with no immediate use is not retained.
RECURRING SUPPORT REQUESTS FREQUENTLY INDICATE A SKILLS GAP, NOT A FAULT
THE HABIT THAT DEFEATS MOST FRAUD
Never use links in messages about accounts. Never give a verification code to anyone. Never grant remote access to someone who contacted you.
Warnings claiming your computer is infected are themselves the attack.
Spelling and grammar no longer identify a fake.
WHAT ACTUALLY MAKES AN OLD MACHINE USABLE
Memory, solid-state storage, fewer startup programs, free disk space.
Never tools promising to clean or speed up a computer — most achieve nothing and some cause harm.
HEAT CAUSES MORE FAILURES THAN ANYTHING ELSE, AND DUST CAUSES HEAT
MONITOR AUTOMATICALLY, BECAUSE MANUAL CHECKING DOES NOT HAPPEN
Disk space, drive health, backup completion, patch level.
Most incidents are predictable, and failure-driven replacement is more expensive and worse timed.
