All checklists

The checklists are written as statements in the first person, so that reading one back tells you plainly whether it is true yet. "I have written down how much memory the machine has" is either true or it is not, and there is no way to half-tick it. That phrasing is deliberate: a checklist of vague intentions is a list you can lie to.

Work through them in order, one step at a time, after reading the step they belong to. Each list takes between ten and thirty minutes, and none of them has to be finished in one sitting. If you reach an item you cannot complete — the classification is not listed, the vendor publishes no odds, the machine falls short on memory — write the answer down anyway. An item that resolves to "no" is a result, and often a more useful one than a tick.

Three of the lists are worth keeping after the course. The Step 3 list, with your notes against each search term, is a record of what you agreed to and is useful if a dispute ever arises. The Step 4 list records how the account was secured, which is the thing people forget first. The Step 5 list carries the written limit and the support address, which are the two pieces of paper you will actually want later.

If you are doing this with someone else in the household — a partner, a parent, a teenager — fill the lists in together rather than handing a completed one over. The conversation about why an item exists lasts longer than the tick does, particularly the items about display names, chat settings and spending.

Print quality is deliberate too. The printed version drops the site furniture and the menus, and keeps only the headings and boxes, so a single sheet or two is enough for the whole course. Nothing on the printed page carries a link you have to follow.

Finally: finishing every list is not a requirement and there is no certificate at the end. You can read one step, run its checklist, decide the whole thing is not for your household, and close the tab. That outcome is as valid as any other and costs you nothing.