importance of laptop maintainance

Take Good Care of
Your Laptop
Computer It is important to take
care of your laptop to
keep it in good shape;
prevention is always
better than cure. There are
a number of easy things that you can do to keep
your laptop in great
shape; following these
easy steps will help to
ensure that it lasts longer
and will need less maintenance. As an added
bonus, many of the steps
will also maintain your
laptop's speed.

Keep
liquids away from your
laptop . As tempting as it might be to
drink coffee, soda,
water or any other
liquid near your
laptop, accidents can
happen all too easily. Spilled liquids may
damage the internal
components or cause
electrical injury to
the laptop. Short
circuits can corrupt data or even
permanently
destroy parts. The
solution is very
simple: Keep your
drinks away from your computer. Even
if you're careful,
someone else might
bump into your desk
or you. Or you can
use a cup with a cover on it, so even
if it does spill, the
liquid doesn't go any
where! Having an
available antivirus
software would
help . Even if you know what you
download, it may
contain a virus that
can lead to a circuit
error in your system
hardware or slowness in the
software. Keep food away
from your laptop . Don't eat over your
laptop. The crumbs
can go down
between the keys in
the keyboard and
provide an invitation to small bugs. The
crumbs can also
irritate the circuitry.
Worse, it makes the
laptop look dirty if
there are crumbs and food stains on it. Always have clean
hands when using
your laptop . Clean hands make it easier
to use your laptop
touchpad and there
will be less risk of
leaving dirt and
other stains on the computer. In
addition, if you clean
your hands before
use, you will help
reduce wear and tear
on the coating of the laptop caused by
contact with sweat
and small particles
that can act upon the
laptop's exterior
underneath your wrists and fingers. Protect the LCD
display monitor . When you shut your
laptop, make sure
there are no small
items, such as a
pencil or small ear-
phones, on the keyboard. These can
damage the display
screen when shut;
the screen will
scratch if the item is
rough. Close the lid gently and holding
from the middle.
Closing the lid using
only one side causes
pressure on that
hinge, and over time can cause it to bend
and snap. Hold and lift the
computer by its
base, not by its
LCD display (the
screen) . If you lift it by the screen part
alone, you could
damage the display
or the hinges
attaching it to the
base. The display is also easily scratched
or damaged by
direct pressure –
avoid placing
pressure on it. Don't pull on the
power cord . Tugging your power
cord out from the
power socket rather
than putting your
hand directly on the
plug in the socket and pulling can break
off the plug or
damage the power
socket. Also, if you
have the power
point near your feet, avoid constantly
bumping into the
plug or you could
loosen it and
eventually break it. Don't roll your
chair over the
computer cord . Stick the cord onto
your desk with tape
or a special computer
cord tie which can be
easily undone when
you've finished using the laptop.
Always try to keep
most of the cord
away from the floor
or your legs;
sometimes you can be so engrossed in
what you're doing
that you move your
legs and forget the
cord is there. Plug in accessory
devices into their
proper slots . Always look at the
symbols on the
laptop carefully
before inserting
devices. Jamming a
phone line into an Ethernet port or vice
versa could damage
the sockets, making
it impossible to use
them again. It is
very important to observe this step. Handle any
removable drives
with care . Floppy drives or CD drives
that have been
removed from your
laptop can easily get
crushed, dropped or
pressed if you are careless. Put them
straight into a bag or
a storage box/case
for safe keeping if
you are not putting
them back into the laptop. Insert drives into
their slots
carefully and at
the correct angle . Pushing the wrong
drive into a socket,
or at an angle, or
even upside down
can jam it. Check to see if
labels are affixed
securely before
inserting media
into your laptop
computer . Media such as CDs, DVDs or
floppy disks should
not have any loose
label parts that
might jam inside the
laptop drive. Never insert undersized
CDs, as these can
damage the disk
player permanently. Don't expose your
laptop to rapid
temperature
fluctuations . When bringing your laptop
indoors during
winter, don't turn it
on immediately.
Instead, let it warm
to room temperature first.
This will avoid any
potential for damage
to the disk drive
from condensation
forming inside the machine. Avoid heat
from sunlight as
well. Don't leave your
laptop in a car . Not only do the insides
of cars experience
large temperature
swings that could
damage a laptop, but
a laptop (or laptop bag) is an inviting
target for a smash
and grab thief. Have the unit
cleaned once a
year to remove
internal dust . Get this done by a
computer
professional. If dust
accumulates, the
system cannot cool
itself correctly. Heat can destroy the
motherboard. Avoid placing
heavy materials,
such as books, on
top of your laptop
and keyboard . This can push the LCD
screen into the
keyboard, and will
eventually damage
it. Also, the CD-ROM
insert will also be squished and,
eventually, will
break. Use a properly-
sized laptop case . Whatever you use to
carry your laptop
around in, be it a
case, a bag or
something you have
made yourself, make sure that it it large
enough to contain
the laptop. This will
avoid scratching,
squeezing or even
potentially dropping it. Look into getting
a laptop bag . Many breaks happen
because of laptops
being dropped or
bumped. A bag
greatly reduces the
risk of damage. Use and store in a
well-circulated
area. When you are using your laptop,
do so in a place that
has a constant air-
circulation. Lots of
people ruin their
laptop by using it in an enclosed area and
thus making the
laptop overheat. It
also helps if you
store it in a well
circulated area. Use an old tooth
brush to clean the
area around the
exhaust fan
screen . If that gets plugged up, air flow
is diminished and
overheating can
most certainly occur. Try and keep the
laptop on a flat
surface . This prevents damage to
the laptop. This step
can be hard,
particularly if you
are going out with
your laptop, but if there is a flat surface
available to put your
laptop on then do so. Don't use your
laptop on the bed . Repeated use of the
laptop on the bed
will cause the fans to
suck up the dust and
further debris which
lies in the bed, ultimately blocking
the fan. Refrain from
this by using the
laptop somewhere
else than the bed.