1 Shut down your laptop properly
Do not get into the habit of shutting down your laptop by holding in the power button. To prolong the life of your laptop you should shut down the laptop by click on start – shutdown.
2 Discharge you battery completely before recharging
You will prolong the life of your battery by completely discharging the battery before recharging. Otherwise the memory effect will kick in and the battery won’t last as long.
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3 Run a monthly hard drive defrag
Running a monthly defrag will greatly improve the speed of your hard drive. This will speed load up times and keep your hard drive in good health.
4 Clean your screen regularly
Cleaning your screen regularly will help prolong the life of your LCD. The recommend way to do this is to use window cleaner, spraying directly onto kitchen towel and gently whipping of grime.
5 Clean your keyboard regularly
Cleaning your keyboard will help keep your keyboard it tip top condition. Wipe down with a window cleaner and use a vacuum cleaner to such up all dust and grime between the keys. Be careful as the keys on a laptop are delicate and could easily be dislodged.
6 Run an antivirus or anti spyware once a month
It is highly recommended to run a anti spyware or virus program once a month even if you don’t suspect that you have been infected. Remember it is important that whatever program you use is up to date. I would recommend Avast antivirus and malware bytes, both of which are free.
7 Don’t leave cables lying around
One of the most common causes of damage to a laptop is someone tripping over a power cable. This usually results in the screen being damaged but can also cause the hard drive to lose all data.
8 Run a back up regularly
Worst case scenario; your hard drive completely fails, resulting in a total loss of all data. This is more common than it sounds. It is important to run regular back ups, you can also use modern cloud back up services such as Dropbox
9 Don’t allow your laptop to overheat sitting on a cushion / pillow
A laptop can seriously over heat if it is used while sitting on a cushion or pillow. This can cause capacitors to blow and ultimately you would likely need to replace the motherboard.
10 Buy a laptop cooler
Even sitting on a normal table a laptop can over heat. This is why I recommend buying a laptop cooler which can be bough online.
