Laptop Maintenance

In the concluding part of our ready reckoner to make your laptop last longer, we feature tips on minimising risk of damage and extracting performance

Don’t leave your laptop in the car

There are many things that can potentially damage your laptop, including heat. But if you leave your laptop in the car, it’s probably going to get stolen before it has a chance to overheat! The heat inside a car can get well above the temperature at which a chip can function properly, so be careful. If you love your laptop, follow these tips:

• Never leave your laptop unattended.
• Never expose your laptop to extreme heat or extreme cold.
• Don’t let your laptop out of your sight.
• Properly care for your laptop battery.
• Keep magnetic devices away from your laptop.
• Avoid eating and drinking near your laptop.
• Keep your laptop clean and dust free.
• Never leave your laptop unattended.

Minimising The Risk Of Damage To Your Laptop

There are some simple steps you can take to reduce the likelihood that your laptop will need repair:

• Protect the hard disk - The hard disk in your laptop is a rapidly spinning metal disk covered with a delicate magnetic coating. The read/write head literally floats on a cushion of air less than a hair’s width above the disk surface. Banging or jarring your computer while the disk is spinning can permanently damage the disk. Even if the disk is not physically damaged, data corruption can occur. If the disk is damaged, your laptop will need to be sent in for repair. If data is corrupted your computer will need to be erased and reloaded. When you suspend or shut down the computer, the disk head is parked in a safe area. You must suspend or shut down your computer if possible whenever you move it. Picking up the computer and gently carrying it a short distance with the power on is considered acceptable use.
• Protect the screen - The display screen in your laptop is actually a very large semiconductor "chip" covered with layers of glass and plastic. It may break if the computer is handled roughly. A broken screen, when not insured, costs one thousand dollars to replace. You must avoid packing your laptop in a bag or case along with other bulky objects such as school books. This can cause flexion or torsion of the screen and laptop case, which in turn leads to "black screen" problems and imprinting of the screen with a black Accupoint dot. Accupoint dot imprint damage is not covered under the screen insurance policy or extended warranty.
• Protect the electronics - It is mandatory that the system be suspended or shut down whenever the laptop is packed in its carrying case. If not, the electronics, including the Pentium CPU, continue to run at full power generating considerable heat. Inside the carrying case, no flow of cooling air is possible, and the result is permanent damage to the Pentium CPU, video display, and other components. You must assure that your laptop is set to automatically suspend when the lid is shut. To verify this, go to the Start Menu and choose Control Panel > Power Options. On the Advanced tab, verify that your laptop is set to stand by or hibernate when the lid is closed. Then click ok.
• Protect your data - Occasional software corruption and software conflicts are a fact of life. The risk of problems increases with the installation of additional software particularly computer games. You must regularly back up your important documents so that they will not be lost in the event of a hardware or software malfunction. Backup to Zip disks and CD-Rs is recommended.

Extracting Performance

• Run Disk Cleanup, Scandisk and Defragmenter at least monthly. You can find this under "Accessories," listed with Programmes. Start > Programs > Accessories. Be sure to turn off screen saver before performing maintenance.
• Virus scan software updates MUST be done on a weekly basis. This usually requires an Internet connection, unless the updates are available to you on a disk/CD.

For machines running Windows XP

The Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter are found in the same location as what is written above. However, ScanDisk is called "Error Checking" in Windows XP, and it is located in another location. Open "My Computer." Right click on drive C, then select Properties. Click on the Tools tab. Where you see Error Checking, click on "Check now." Select "automatically fix file system errors," and then Start. You may be prompted to restart the machine.

Performing these actions on a regular basis will help keep the computer working properly with less freezing, and will help protect your investment.

Free Memory

Downloaded software and screensavers often cause conflicts and use valuable memory. Remember that the laptop is a tool for learning and keeping it free of extras will keep it working quicker with less freezing.

Always back up all files in at least two places.

Backup

Backup your important data to a floppy disk, a super floppy, CD-RW media, zip disk, or on a network. There are plenty of choices of where to save - but none provides protection unless you take advantage of it.