Increasingly wireless networks are installed in the homes of “normal” people. Yet these normals have no idea whether their wireless networks are configured for best performance (and even if they had some small idea, they likely wouldn’t know what to do about it). Frequent contributor Glenn Fleishman does. Read his and put his suggestions to good use.

Leopard and Snow Leopard’s Screen Sharing feature is as much a gift to you as it is to your loved ones. With it you can avoid the long meandering tech support calls that plague every family’s pet geek. With screen sharing configured properly all you need to do is remind Aunt Vilma how to launch iChat, accept your request to share her screen, and and you can go about your lifesaving business.

Should you need reminding of how to set this up, sit down at your loved one’s Mac, fire up their browser, and sign them up for a . Launch iChat and configure it to use this account. Add your MobileMe or AIM identity to their buddy list and from the Audio or Video menu choose Screen Sharing Enabled. When you return home, enter their account in your buddy list. (Of course if they have a MobileMe account you needn’t get an AIM account for them. Just use their MobileMe identity.)

If the family Mac isn’t being backed up you’re going to hear about it when its hard drive eventually dies. Save yourself the headache and purchase an external hard drive, attach it to the Mac, hide it under a doily so no one can muck with it when you’re not there, and configure Time Machine to back up to the drive.

Some people—many of them your relatives—have no respect for their computers. They happily clutter their Desktop with files, toss countless items into the Trash and never empty it, and figure that when they delete an image in iPhoto, it’s really gone. With their permission, offer to do a little housekeeping. The other day I offered a few. Now would be a good time to put some of these tips into practice.