It is important to take care of your laptop to keep it in good shape; issue prevention is always better than cure. There are several things that you can do to keep your laptop in great shape. Many are common sense and some have higher importance. They help to ensure that your system meets its lifespan with few issues and will require limited maintenance. As a bonus, many of the steps will also maintain your laptop’s speed. 

Techfident Top Tips below will help you to care for your Laptop and keep it in optimal condition.

Keep liquids away from your laptop.

As tempting as it might be to drink coffee, 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. This can corrupt data or even permanently destroy parts. The solution is simple: Keep your drinks away from your computer. Even if you are careful, someone else might bump into your desk or you. Alternatively, you can use a cup with a cover on it, so even if it does spill, the liquid does not go anywhere!

Having anti-virus software available is essential.

Even if you know what you download and trust its source, it may contain a virus that can lead to an issue with your system hardware. This can cause slowness in the software and loss of data.

Keep food away from your laptop.

Do not 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 cause damage over time. 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. This is caused by contact with sweat and small particles that can act upon the laptop’s exterior underneath your wrists and fingers. A dirty keyboard can cause scratches on the LCD screen when the lid is closed.

Protect the LCD/LED display monitor.

When you shut your laptop, make sure there are no small items, such as a pen or small ear-phones, on the keyboard. These can damage the display screen when the lid is shut. The screen will scratch if the item is rough or crack if enough pressure is applied. Close the lid gently and holding it from the middle. Closing the lid using only one side causes extra pressure on that sides hinge, and over time can cause it to bend and snap.

Hold and lift the computer by its base, not by its LCD/LED display (the screen).

If you lift your system by the screen part alone, you could damage the display or the hinges attaching the display to the base. The display is also easily scratched or damaged by direct pressure – avoid placing pressure on it. (Commonly dark splotches on the screen are the result of pressure from fingers or from a thumb.)

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 conversely could damage the sockets, making it impossible to use them again. Also ensure you have the connector orientated correctly to fit into the port. It is important to observe these steps.

Do not expose your laptop to rapid temperature fluctuations.

When bringing your laptop indoors during winter, do not 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 direct sunlight as well.

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 and dust can clog and burn out moving parts.

Avoid placing heavy materials, such as books, on top of your laptop and keyboard.

This can push the LCD/LED screen into the keyboard, and will eventually damage it. Also, the CD-ROM insert will also be put under excess pressure and, eventually, will break.

Use a properly sized laptop case.

Make sure that whatever you use to carry your laptop around in, it is large enough to contain the laptop. (Be it a case, a bag, or something you have made yourself.) 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 that is designed for laptops greatly reduces the risk of damage.

Use an old toothbrush to clean the area around the exhaust fan screen.

If that gets plugged up, airflow is diminished and overheating can most certainly occur. You do not want to push dust further into the laptop, if you have multiple fans consider the direction of each one’s airflow.

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.

Do not 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 this can, as with dust, cause trouble to internal parts of your laptop.

Allow the Operating System to go into a sleep state, hibernation state or to be shut down completely.

Allowing time for the computer to sleep, hibernate or shut down properly will allow the read/write head of a mechanical hard drive to be parked. The sleep, hibernate, or shut down process can be triggered manually from within the operating system. The operating system can also be set to perform one of these tasks when the lid is closed. Before moving the system, it is not recommended to set the system for the “Do nothing” power option when the lid is closed. This can result in the system being moved with the hard drive in an active state.

The mechanical hard drive (as opposed to a solid-state hard drive) is a mechanical device. It can suffer damage to the rotating platters inside if the read and write head is active while the system is being transported. Damage like this can result in data loss or permanent hard drive failure. It is always a best practice to have a data backup strategy in place and to perform system backups regularly.

A Solid State Drive (SSD) has no moving mechanical parts and may be a good option for systems that are frequently transported.

Take care not to hit the system against a solid object.

Shocks to the system may cause harm to system components over time. Avoid any sudden movements or drops to prevent shock induced damage to the hard drive or other mechanical components. This type of damage can result in the system becoming inoperable or possible data loss on the hard drive.

Note any new or unusual system noises.

An unusual sound from the system can be an indication of impending hardware failure. Hard drives, fans, or other internal system devices will often start making a new noise as an indication that something has gone wrong.

Avoid dropping notebooks into bags or onto surfaces.

Dropping the system any distance, onto any surface, before it has gone into a Sleep or Shut down state can damage the hard drive. This will result in the loss of data.

Avoid leaving notebooks on the floor unprotected.

Notebook systems are not designed to sustain being stepped on or impacted by other bags etc. System damage and data loss may occur.

Even after following all these tips, if you still get some issues with your laptop give Techfident a shout. We have a network of certified engineers and experts who will make sure you get a  laptop working at optimal levels, which is as good as new!

Home or Office, we’ve got you covered!