The biggest of these: Less is better, especially fewer gadgets and fewer work apps. That principle can guide us to a simpler, less frustrating setup that enable us to work well with our colleagues.

“There’s an overabundance of tools,” said Jason Fried, a founder of Basecamp, a software company in Chicago that makes remote working tools, and co-author of the book “Remote: Office Not Required.” “These are disasters waiting to happen.”

Here’s what you can do to make working from home a joy.

Let’s talk about your internet.

Let’s first address the No. 1 tech issue at home: internet connectivity. Compared with the zippy broadband connections in our offices, our home internet speeds are probably sluggish and our Wi-Fi connections may be spotty.

So now is a good time to assess your infrastructure.

If your Wi-Fi signal is unreliable , meaning it’s strong in one room but weak in another, my recommendation for most people is to invest in a so-called mesh Wi-Fi system. That lets you connect multiple wireless access points together to blanket your home with a strong internet connection. My favorite mesh systems are Google Wifi and Amazon’s Eero, which start at $99 for a single router and can be bundled with additional access points.

If your internet speeds feel slow, a modern Wi-Fi system with support for the latest wireless standards, like the aforementioned ones, would help. But if speeds continue to feel sluggish even after you upgrade your networking gear, you may have to contact your internet provider to ask about other options. Some providers may offer faster broadband speeds at higher prices.

In general, many of us (myself included) are experiencing slower overall speeds in the wake of the pandemic. That’s because hordes of us are going online from home and sucking up the internet provider’s bandwidth, which can cause average speeds to dip. There’s not much we can do in this case beyond calling our service providers to complain about the slowdowns.

That’s why it’s wise to have a backup option. When speed problems arise, you can resort to using your smartphone’s hot spot feature, which turns the device’s cellular connection into a miniature Wi-Fi network. Cellular networks are designed to handle larger amounts of users, so chances are that your smartphone’s data connection will be faster when your broadband is overwhelmed. Apple and Google offer instructions on their websites on how to turn iPhones and Android phones into hot spots.