Uttoxeter Online Magazine

It pays to look after your laptop, here are the ‘7 Deadly Sins’.

Follow these simple tips and you'll be amazed at how a bit of TLC and some commonsense will keep your laptop healthy.

1. Eat in the Kitchen
You would be amazed at just how much damage you can cause to your keyboard from those stray crumbs! Hot or cold drinks spilt on your laptop can cause hundreds of pounds worth of damage — so save the food and drink until break time and take a break from your laptop.

2. Keep it spring cleaned
A few minutes each week spent cleaning your laptop will prolong its life. Here are a few grisly facts to encourage you to do this :
A keyboard that hasn't been spoilt with a weekly dust has 3,500 germs per square inch — use an antiseptic wipe (nothing fancy, just the regular ones you buy in the supermarket) and exert only gentle pressure and then blow out anything that's left behind. Hold this thought in your head — an unclean keyboard can be as unhygienic as a loo seat ! 

3. Be tender with your screen
Wiping a household duster over your screen will not get rid of the dust and it could cause damage. Use a few sheets of good quality damp kitchen roll and wipe the screen as if you were wiping your eye glasses.

4. Don't leave it out in the cold
Leaving your laptop in a car overnight isn't a good idea for obvious reasons. But did you know that if your laptop has passed it's 4th birthday, then a sudden change of temperature can cause extensive damage to it.

5. Are you working in a laptop friendly zone?
Take a look at your working environment. If you get lots of dust coming in through open windows, or the atmosphere is damp, then it won't only shorten your laptop's life, it won't be doing you too many favours either! Start with the desk or table that your laptop sits on and then take in the rest of your surroundings. Laptops absorb dust and damp.

6. It's in the bag!
At Westec Networks, we've seen it all — laptops brought in to us in a supermarket bag, in a rucksack, in a gym bag, sandwiched between musty sports kit (not a nice smell!). You can imagine the damage that can be caused to your laptop by using these dubious methods of transportation. What's more, not all purpose made laptop bags are up to the job. Good padding is the key, and a good quality bag for about £20 is peanuts compared to the cost of your laptop. Yes, we do sell these types of bags.

7. Be a lightweight with your ports
You're not trying to squash an elephant into a phone box so use nimble fingers when you're linking up your laptop. Imagine you're replacing a light bulb. We've included this tip because badly damaged ports rank in our top five most common laptop repairs. It's a strange but true fact that people tend to be more careful with their mobile phones than their laptop.

Random jottings of a PC Doctor