What's in Scope

14 Feb

Take Good Care of Your Laptops and Desktops with These Simple TLC Tips

With most of us having moved our work lives from the office to the home; kitchen benches and dining tables have become our workspaces, our family and pets are our new workmates. While in the office, our computers are in a mostly clutter free, safe environment. The home is not always quite the same.

On this Valentines Day, we recommend these TLC tips to help you take good care of your laptops and desktops while working from home.

Be Gentle to Your Machine 

You spend a great deal of time on your machine, and it contains incredibly important information regarding your work and personal life. So, think twice the next time you hold your laptop by the display or use it while eating or drinking. Always be gentle when inserting and removing cables.

We recommend cleaning your computer or laptop at least once a week using the following PC care routine.

  • Unplug your machine including the monitor from the power source and turn it off.
  • Use a microfiber cloth or lens cleaner and wipe down the screen from corner to corner to remove dust scuffs and fingerprints. Your monitors are more delicate than they look.  Avoid paper towels, old t-shirts, or any abrasive materials you use for home cleaning.
  • Use a small brush to clean the dust or crumbs in the gaps between the keyboard and mouse.
  • Then, gently clean your screen, mouse, and keyboard with an electronic safe disinfecting wipe or 70% isopropyl alcohol, taking care to not touch any openings including ports or speakers. Do not let any cleaning solution run behind the screen or under the keyboard.
  • Let it air dry before plugging it in and turning it on again.

Note: Never spray any cleaning materials directly onto a computer.  Not only are some cleaners and solvents abrasive, using too much liquid can flow into the components of the laptop and cause it to short when turned on. Do not use Windex or any other glass cleaner as most screens are made of a thin film. You can also get computer cleaning kits from most electronics or office supply stores.

Love your battery

Keep your computer cool. Excess heat is not only bad for the computer’s processor but also the longevity of the battery as well. Avoid using your computer on soft surfaces (like your bed or your lap) because that will prevent adequate airflow. Do not leave your laptop in a hot car for an excessive amount of time.

We recommend fully discharging your battery once a month to maintain its capacity. Don’t Leave it plugged in when it is fully charged and do not always wait until it’s completely dead before charging it.

Protect your machine

If a hacker or malicious software can gain access to your device, this can cause major issues such as identity theft, financial or data loss and potentially break down of your machine. Therefore, anti-virus software is your best friend.

All computers and laptops come with a native antivirus and security software; however, we strongly recommend that you get an extra layer of protection on top of your device’s in-built security to be fully protected.

And here’s our final tip, if you keep your computer online often, make sure to occasionally restart the device. Not only it is good for the health of the components, but it will also tidy up your system’s cache and help give it a well-deserved break, you may also notice an improvement in performance.

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