So you got yourself a new laptop computer at one of those sales on Black Friday? Or maybe you expect to get one some time during this holiday season. You would, of course, like to keep it running for a while? Well, there are some obstacles to keeping your laptop in working order, and it is best to avoid as many of them as possible. Here are the ones I have encountered while working with, and working on, laptop computers for a number of years.
Careless handling is the single greatest cause of laptop failure. Here are some things you should do and not do, even if you get away with something once in a while.
When you connect up the A/C power adapter, called the “power cord” by some, either to charge a laptop battery or to operate it at full power, do so gently and firmly, plugging the adapter in directly, not at an angle. When you detach the A/C adapter, be equally gentle and firm. The recessed opening for the A/C adapter has a power jack, soldered to the laptop’s main circuit board. In almost every laptop of every brand and price range, the power jack is only soldered to the circuit board, and not secured in any other way. Electrical solder is a soft metal that bends easily. After a number of hard insertions of the power adapter plug, the solder develops faults and eventually fractures. When the plug breaks off, you have a dead laptop no longer capable of charging the battery or running on wall current. Planned obsolescence? Maybe.
When you operate the laptop with the A/C adapter, make doubly sure that neither you nor anyone else can trip over or yank on it. Unruly animals and children are especially good at doing this.
When you take your laptop computer from place to place, carry it in a padded carrying case, and, of course, do not drop it, especially when it is running. Even the best carrying case does not guarantee a safe journey, as I learned a couple of years ago when I slipped and fell hard on an icy stairway. I had a couple of small bruises, but my laptop began acting strangely a couple of days later. Testing revealed that its hard drive, the repository of all software and personal information, had sustained a shock and it was failing.
Never leave your laptop computer in your car. This is an invitation to thieves, and, if left out in the open, and exposed to the extremes of heat and cold, it can fail afterward with damage to the screen, the battery, plastic, or other parts. Temperatures inside a closed car can approach the boiling point of water in the summer, not healthy for you or computer. Do not put anything heavy on your laptop, even if it is in its carrying case, unless you get one of those metal or fiberglass hard carrying cases.
Furry animals contribute to another cause of laptop failure, namely dust and dirt. Goldfish and lizards are usually OK, unless they get too close to the computer. A laptop is designed to run at a safe operating temperature even though the space to ventilate air is limited. The largest integrated circuits, or chips, are kept cool by fans and a large copper heat sink with heat pipes to conduct the heat away from the chips to the outside. Grills protect the fans, but they can also collect dust, dirt, and animal hair. If you have animals in your life, live or work in a place with wall-to-wall carpeting, or use your laptop in dirty or dusty environment, it is best to clean out the air vents every three months or so. You can do so by squirting compressed air, bought by the can at your favorite office supply store, into all the vents, while the laptop is powered off.
Badly clogged air vents require disassembly and cleaning by a professional, although you can try it yourself if you have a couple of small Phillips-head screwdrivers, a small flat-headed screwdriver and the service manual for your laptop. The word laptop itself is an oxymoron, because few people use them in their laps. If they do, they should not, because air intake and exhaust fans can easily get blocked by clothing. There are also urban legends about people being scalded while using laptops in laps.
Another risk for laptops is food and drink. You are taking a serious risk eating or drinking around your laptop. So don’t do it. Cookie crumbs can collect in the keyboard, making it stiff or sometimes inoperable. But spill your lemonade on your laptop, and it may well be history.
Keep your fingers, pencils, and pens off the laptop screen. Oil from your body can mar the screen surface, and fingernails or hard objects can leave nice scratches, possibly breaking the screen. If the screen becomes dusty or oily, use a slightly dampened 100 percent cotton soft cloth to clean it, with the computer powered off, of course. Synthetic fabrics tend to be scratchy, so don’t use them. There are also commercial cleaners for both computer screens and the rest of the body of the computer. Wipe down the keyboard very carefully, as the fragile keys can detach easily.
Treat your laptop computer like the fragile instrument it is; keep it clean and out of harm’s way, and it will give you a number of years of good service.
Then we have software that is unhealthy for your laptop, including viruses, worms, malware, and online scams, but that’s another story, enough for a book.
Longtime Harvard resident Ben Myers has used computers since the last century, continues to use them, and repairs a lot of them. Send e-mail with your questions to him at ben_myers@charter.net