IT Tips for Laptop: Is your laptop your lifeline?

IT Tips for Laptop

Is your laptop your lifeline?

 

If your answer is “yes”, let’s hope you are taking good care of it. But what is the definition of “good care”? The occasional dusting and wiping may not be enough to ensure your laptop has a long and trouble-free life. Sometimes, plain carelessness can jeopardize your laptop’s condition.

Imagine your workstation without your laptop for a day? If your laptop crashes or has an external damage, you would have to reschedule your meetings and postpone work till you get your laptop back into action. To avoid such last-minute stress, do put into practice these simple steps which ensure your laptop’s long life and safety:

• The electronic parts of a laptop including the screen, keyboard and CD-ROM insert will break overtime when heavy weight and pressure is placed on them. You should not stack up a hoard of books or files on top of a laptop while you’re at work.
• Don’t hold/lift your laptop by its screen alone; when direct pressure is applied on the screen it might break the laptop at its hinges.
• Before shutting the laptop, make sure there are no small items on the keyboard that can damage the screen; hold and lift the laptop by its base, not by its LCD display; don’t tug the power cord; don’t roll your chair over the computer cord; plug in accessory devices into their proper slots; handle removable drives gently; don’t expose the laptop to extreme temperature fluctuations.
• As far as possible, use the laptop in a proper workstation. This may seem like killing the purpose of having a portable device, but in the long run, placing the laptop on a flat surface with good air circulation increases its life.
• Keep food and drink away from the laptop. This can be easier said than done for most people. However, a spill can cost you. Spilt liquids can damage the internal components or cause electrical injury to the laptop. Food crumbs, on the other hand, can go down between the keys in the keyboard and attract bugs, besides irritating the circuitry.
• Keep it clean, inside out. Sticky keys and crumbs between them mean it is time to clean your laptop.