Windows 8 In Depth

When to Hire a Professional

You’ve probably heard this old adage: “If you want something done right, do it yourself!” It is true, to a point. Sometimes, though, the benefit of hiring someone else outweighs the pleasure of doing it yourself.

For a home network, you should definitely try to set it up yourself. Call it a learning experience, get friends to help, and, if you run into problems, a high-school-aged neighbor can probably get them straightened out in 15 minutes. As long as you don’t have to run wires through the wall or construct your own cables, you should be able to manage this job even with no prior networking experience. When something is called “Plug and Play” now, it really is.

The balance tips the other way for a business. If you ...