Humans and technological devices aren’t so different when it comes to needing to have regular maintenance. 

In order for our machines to be reliable, work as intended, and last a few years at least, there is a range of things that we can and should do to make sure this happens. 

Here are a few ways that you can do to make sure that you won’t be spending out cash on a new laptop any time soon! 

Protection

Anything worth money should have some level of protection. You can protect your laptop in two ways with relative ease. One of those options is to have something like a hard shell snap-on case, a skin, or a sleeve. 

Even if you aren’t particularly clumsy, you might find that you aren’t willing to risk it when it comes to your laptop. Look for a cover or shell that has reinforced corners, as they tend to take the most damage when they are dropped. 

Further to physical protection, you should make sure that your laptop or tablet is also insured. This way, if it does get heavily damaged or is stolen, you won’t be out of pocket to fix it. 

OS

If you are the type of person that will often put off updating your laptop or computer because it takes up too much time – then there is some bad news for you. When you run the updates, any bugs, issues or problems that are known to the developer and the company will be rectified. 

It doesn’t matter if you are an Apple, Linux or Windows user. What matters is that when there are new patches and updates available, you make the time to install them. 

You can set your laptop to do these automatically, or you might choose to do them manually. If you choose to do them manually, make sure that you set a time earlier in the day than you need your laptop or in the evening. This will prevent you from becoming irritated if it seems to be taking longer than usual. 

Unplug

Are you in the habit of leaving your laptop plugged in all the time? Although newer machines are often smart chargings, not all machines work in the same way. With more wireless devices than ever, our laptops are usually communicating with multiple Bluetooth devices like headphones and mice. Most people leave their laptops plugged in all day or won’t let them fall below 50%. 

If you keep your laptop plugged in, this can lead to overcharging and can cause regenerative capability deterioration in the laptop battery. You will notice if this happens because it may seem like your laptop can no longer hold the charge as well as it could previously. 

Junk

Suppose you are in the habit of putting thousands of photos on your laptop – and never sorting through them. Adding multiple apps and never deleting or updating them or having programs or large files that you no longer use. It’s time for a purge. 

Start working through everything that you don’t need. For things, you have to keep the purchase a hard drive and move everything there. This will also help when it comes to the running of your laptop in general. 

Cleaning

Food crumbs, dust, dirt and sticky fingerprints can cause havoc with your keyboard and eventually, that dust can clog your vent and cause your laptop to overheat; read more about overheating and how to solve it. 

For cleaning your keyboard, keyboard putty can get in between all the keys in a matter of seconds. For vents and other dust, compressed air can usually do the trick. 

External keyboards can be turned over and given a gentle shake to dislodge most of the crumbs, and spraying compressed air at an angle is enough to get rid of the rest. You can also use compressed air and some keyboard putty to clean out USB ports. 

Never add liquid directly to your device! 

Backups

Many laptops have the option to create a backup – this is one of the best ways for you to protect the work that is on there. Even with new machines, there is the possibility that it crashes, gets dropped, or coffee gets spilt on it. 

If your computer does have any issues, a backup means you should be up and running again in no time at all. 

Make cleaning your laptop part of your weekly office cleaning, and even move some things around to help with your productivity: How Office Design Can Boost Productivity and Encourage Creativity | Nell Gavin.