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Laptop Tips and Advice
(Don't Say We never told you so!)
There are so many things that you can
do wrong it is hard to know where to start, but here is a list
of some of common actions to avoid ...
Don't Leave your Laptop on all the
time: At least once a day, turn
off your laptop and give it a chance to cool off. This is more
important for the stability of the Operating System than to save
wear and tear on the hardware. Also, I like to go with a complete
shut down, not just sleep mode or hibernate.
Don't Download Files from just anywhere: File Sharing Sites are a Virus Superhighway and
when you start downloading files from just about any "free"
site, you are asking for trouble.
Don't use your Laptop in Bed, or on
your Lap: Ironically, using your
laptop on top of your lap can lead to poor air circulation and
may even cause health problems.
Don't Keep Opening and Closing the
Lid: I call em like I see em,
and even though a laptop is designed to be opened and closed
on a regular basis, the more the lid is opened and closed, the
more likely you are to end up with loose hinges that do not hold
the LCD in place. This is not to say that you should never open
or close the lid, just that you should try to keep it to a minimum.
Don't even Look at the Power Plug the
Wrong Way! For sure the Achilles
Heal of any laptop, The DC Input Jack, commonly known as the
Power Plug, is one of the most delicate parts of a laptop and
yet one of the most important. If this dainty jack is bent more
than 15 degrees in any direction, you are headed for an expensive
repair that most technicians would not want to attempt. Of course,
here at Laptops plus we can handle that kind of repair, but it
is not cheap.
Keep drinking and computing separate!
While it has not been determined
what percentage of spills are related to alcohol consumption,
I have noticed that wine spills are very common, with beer a
distant second.
Avoid installing software just to see
if it's something cool: Every
application uses resources when running - some even when they're
not running. Uninstalling isn't necessarily the answer either
--- there are a lot of programs out there that don't remove everything
they install.
Use Compressed Air to blow out dust
regularly: If enough dust and
dirt collects inside of your laptop, you will have poor air circulation
and the heat will remain in your laptop, instead of being blow
out with the exhaust air.
Keep Your Screen Clean ... Cloths made to clean eyeglasses can be used
to gently wipe dust from lcd screens. Finer hotel rooms sometimes
have small soft cloths for shining shoes in with the toiletries
- these also work well.
Fast is the New Big when it comes to
Hard Drives. When purchasing a
laptop - don't underestimate the value of a fast hard drive.
If you do a lot of operations that access the drive, like multi-media
editing, a faster drive will give a performance boost.
Contributors: Eric Webb, Matt Fielder
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