Advent tip #22: Got a new gadget for Christmas? Stop. Think. Connect.

We’ve already reminded you about the importance of updates, back in Advent tip #10.

But it’s easy to forget that even new devices typically need updates right away, because they’re not really new as in “manufactured this morning and patched immediately” but new as in “packaged ready for first use by the customer, then shipped, stored and sold.”

For example, I recently bought a current-model MacBook which was shipped to the store before OS X El Capitan 10.11 came out, but was purchased by me just afterwards.

I dont know about you, but I like breaking that seal myself – OK, the transparent sticky tape – and doing the unboxing at home at my own, reverent pace. (Not that I’m a fanbuoy or anything, just to make that clear.)

Of course, that means I knew full well than when I fired up my new laptop for the first time, it was going to have OS X Mavericks 10.10 on it, which I’d need to upgrade and then update if I wanted the latest security fixes before doing anything serious on my own account.

Installing El Capitan is procedurally painless, but to do it online via the App Store requires waiting for a download of about 6GB, which can take hours on many household connections, for example if you use a mobile (3G/LTE) network.

So, the question is: do you have the will to wait?

Please do, no matter how enticing your new phone/laptop/router/digital kettle might look.

Sit back, relax, have another mince pie, and don’t get pwned on Christmas morning!

Images of Christmas tree and Advent calendar courtesy of Shutterstock.