24 November 2010
Here are 15 simple tips from the experts and experienced users here at Kingdom Data Recovery on how best to take care of your laptop, as prevention is always better than cure. Your laptop takes care of so many things in your life, try to take care of your laptop, too.
Hold and lift your laptop by its base and never by its screen. The obvious reason is to protect the hinges
- Keep foods away. It is not the food per se that could damage your laptop. It is the fact that food particles attract bugs which may damage your laptop's internal circuitry.
- Keep liquids away. As tempting as a large mug of Starbucks may be to keep beside your working buddy, NEVER do so. A careless spill or an equally careless office worker's bump, may spill that liquid over your laptop and cause internal damage and electrical injury.
- Do not eat while you work on your laptop and do not work on your laptop while you eat. Your fingers will get coated with crumbs which will inevitably lead you to the same condition as in points 1 and 2.
- Have clean hands before laying them on your laptop. Sweat and dirt on your fingertips will hasten the wear-and-tear of your keypad coating. Some even advise rubbing your hands with alcohol to remove sweat, grease and dirt.
- Use a keypad protector. This is that soft, rubberized transparent sheet that you can cover over your keypad. This will eliminate the need to wash hands before working.
- Hold and lift your laptop by its base and never by its screen. The obvious reason is to protect the hinges.
- Insert drives and accessories into their proper slots, carefully and at their proper angles.
- Avoid temperature fluctuations (extreme hots and colds) which could cause condensation of air inside the laptop.
- Wait 15 minutes until the laptop reaches room temperature before powering up this will help deal with point 8.
- Have it cleaned by a professional at least once a year to remove dust which might clog the vent and cause overheating.
- Keep your laptop cool. Use in a well-ventilated area. Use laptop coolers with fans to cool the motherboard.
- Clean around the exhaust fan screen. No need for fancy cleaning items here. An old toothbrush is fine.
- Never use your laptop on the bed. The fan will suck in the dust and may soon be sufficiently plugged up and cause overheating.
- Use laptop on a flat surface. If you ever need to work outdoors, bring a laptop table.
- Regularly update both your antivirus software and operating system (e.g. Windows Update). Doing all of the above will be in vain if your laptop gets infected with a virus or Trojan.
