Taking care of your laptop. How to care for a laptop: simple rules for stable operation

Forecasts about the lack of demand for laptops due to the release of new gadgets - tablet computers("tablets") - fortunately, they did not materialize. For years now, portable computers have enjoyed stable and well-deserved popularity among users who have been able to appreciate their capabilities.

What formed the basis for the increased demand for this device?

Compactness

Indeed, those components of a full-fledged personal computer that could hardly fit on a specialized table (monitor, keyboard, system unit), easily got along in one single body weighing no more than 5 kg! Therefore, a laptop has become an excellent solution not only for those who are in perpetual motion, but also for owners of small apartments who prefer to save space, students, as well as for those who are forced to rent housing.

Mobility

A dozen years ago, asking a colleague or classmate to “take your computer with you” would have sounded somewhat strange. Laptops then could only be afforded by fairly wealthy citizens or those for whom it became a necessity. Now we are free to move without interrupting our ability to work, go online, spend free time on the road - you can always take it with you, and a spare battery will provide it with energy for for a long time.

Performance and price

This pair of characteristics is always interconnected, but over time (and, it must be said, along with healthy competition in the market high technology) the price of powerful laptop computers has dropped significantly. And the “internals” of laptops have not only ceased to be inferior, but sometimes even surpass the “insides” of their brothers with permanent registration.

However, despite all this, laptops also have a significant feature that can be called negative - cost service and, most importantly, repairs.

Indeed, if you damage, say, the keyboard of a home PC, then replacing it will not cost much: the most cheap model computer keyboard costs about 100-130 rubles. Another big plus is that you can carry out the replacement yourself. This won't work with a laptop. Not only will repairs (and this will be just repairs!) cost between one and a half to two thousand rubles (note: “from”!), but also the entire device will have to be taken to the workshop, and no one knows what will happen to it further…

Many troubles can be avoided if you operate the fragile device correctly and take good care of it.

Simple rules for using a laptop

Under no circumstances should you consume food or drinks near your laptop!

The advice will seem so banal that you won’t even want to pay attention to it. Whereas about 75% of all breakdowns of this equipment occur precisely for this reason. Whether we watch a movie, study news from friends, or work hard - it doesn’t matter. A mug with your favorite tea, coffee, cola and just water, which is at hand, can ruin the whole thing for a long time. Whether you are startled by a sudden call, the cry of a child, or accidentally wave your hand, the content will immediately appear on the keyboard. This can mean not only expensive repairs, but also the complete loss of all important data, developments and projects. Think, is it worth 10 minutes of pleasure? Crumbs can either aggravate the situation or damage the laptop on its own. By the way, the same applies to smoking near the device - ashes have the same effect as crumbs.

What to do?

If you do spill liquid on your laptop (especially sweet liquid), immediately unplug it from the power cord, turn off the device itself (to do this, hold down the power button for a few seconds), immediately remove the battery and rush to the nearest service center as quickly as possible.

Under no circumstances should you turn on your laptop! This is a very common mistake of owners, in order to “consolate” that it still works.

Analyze the location of the laptop

It is considered correct to operate the device on a hard, level surface. In addition, it should not be so cluttered that there is at least 15 cm of free space from the back and side edges of the computer. This will ensure good opportunities for ventilation.

Straight sunlight is also harmful to the device, because contributes to its overheating. This is especially true for devices with dark-colored cases.

High humidity is excluded! This is worth thinking about for those who like to listen to music while in or in the kitchen.

If you periodically take the device with you, taking it out of the house, you should remember about a special carrying bag, selected taking into account the diagonal of the screen. The laptop should not be placed loosely in it, as this will increase the likelihood of mechanical injuries. In addition, it should only be in the off state in the bag! This is due to the same need for ventilation.

When it happens in the cold season, you don’t need to turn it on immediately when bringing it indoors from the street.

You need to allow the temperature of the device to equalize with the temperature environment, otherwise condensation will form on the internal parts - water vapor, which can damage the equipment.

Take care of the matrix

No, the matrix is ​​in in this case– this is not an abstract space, as is commonly called a liquid crystal display, a laptop screen. By the way, this is one of its most expensive components. What rules apply here?

Firstly, when opening a laptop, always hold the lid strictly in the center, and not from the corners, to avoid bending and failure of its matrix.

Secondly, do not place any foreign objects on the surface of the keyboard. If at any moment you get distracted or a child is nearby and closes the lid, the screen will immediately be damaged. When closed, there should also be no connection between it and the keyboard. extra items, even documents!

Thirdly, never hold the PC by the display (this happens). You shouldn’t leave it on “seated” places: if someone in the household doesn’t notice the device and sits on it, they will crush the screen.

And one last thing. Even when turned off, the laptop is not a “stand” for anything, much less for people who, for some reason, really like to sit on them.

Special attention to the battery

All modern laptops fairly equipped powerful batteries. But for some reason they quickly stop holding a charge, or even fail altogether. It was an incredible discovery for service center specialists that most people do not even suspect that it is possible to use a laptop... without a battery. Indeed, the battery is only needed to operate the device without access to the mains.

If you use it more often at home, you need to remove the battery and provide power from a regular outlet.

Of course, in this case, as with regular computer, nothing will save open file from losing all or part of the information due to a sudden power surge or a power outage, but the battery will faithfully serve you for a long time. The battery should be stored in a semi-charged state. By the way, if you plan not to use the laptop for a long time (several months), then it is also better to remove the battery.

Cleaning your laptop

You began to “suddenly” notice that your pet is overheating, freezing, and it takes much longer to complete basic processes. large quantity time, the diagnosis is clear – it’s dust.

Dust is the number one enemy of your computer.

And if spilling any liquid can still be avoided, then not a single device is immune from dust.

Overheating is the main sign that it’s time to clean up dust. Why is this so important? Laptops produce themselves a large number of heat, since everything that is placed all over the table on a regular PC is located in a relatively small body. Such vulnerable parts of the device as microcircuits, and even the motherboard generally. If measures are not taken in time, the device will gradually begin to fail: the sound will disappear, the “picture” will disappear, the keyboard will fail. Repairs will be very expensive. That's why it's so important to provide him.

Now there are programs that allow you to determine the temperature of individual internal components of a laptop. How to navigate the received data?

The maximum temperatures at which the functions of the components are not impaired are as follows: for the processor - 70º C, for the video card -85º C, for hard drive- 45ºС.

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Keep in mind that the indicated values ​​are 10-20ºС higher than the comfortable ones, so when analyzing the results obtained using the program, remember normal temperature laptop elements.

How does dust get inside the device? In any air, even at first glance, there is always dust present. In order to cool the laptop radiator, a stream of air is drawn into the air intake holes on the case, all the dust from which immediately settles on the internal parts of the computer. The situation will be aggravated by the presence of the device in a place where the concentration of dust in the air is a priori increased due to the presence of pillows and blankets. Over time, a layer of dust accumulates and interferes with the normal cooling of the laptop PC. Then you start to feel overheated.

How else can you determine the need to clean your laptop from dust? Its cooler (fan that cools the device) begins to behave much more noisily, the device turns off by itself even after short-term operation, the image consists of fuzzy areas and squares.

The main way to combat dust is to use special cans with compressed air, which, coming out of it under high pressure, literally “knocks out” dust particles and even crumbs from the computer and keyboard.

Somewhere you can find “good” advice to use a vacuum cleaner for this purpose. We strongly advise against doing this! Not only are laptops delicate enough for such “operations,” but you can also be left without individual elements of the keyboard, which will end up inside the vacuum cleaner.

In addition, any laptop needs a preventive examination by specialists at least once a year. Usually at the same time the dust is professionally removed, because... The device is disassembled and thoroughly cleaned. Don't neglect this if you want to have a working laptop for a long time.

The display, keyboard and touchpad, as well as the outer case, among others, are subject to contamination. You can eliminate them on your own, but using special means. Given the increased sensitivity of the display, it is necessary to use only special cleaning products - laptop wipes or sprays. There is no need to spray the spray directly onto the screen; just apply it to a lint-free cloth (microfiber works great) and wipe the dirty surface.

As you can see, there is nothing particularly difficult about proper laptop care. It is enough to treat him with respect, follow simple rules, and then he will really respond for a long time service and high reliability!

Video on how to extend the life of your laptop

A person who smokes like a steam locomotive, abuses liquids of dubious origin, then falls down the steps and regularly rolls in the mud will not last long. It's about the same with a laptop. We will give a number of simple but quite effective recommendations to avoid troubles when using laptop computers. To some they will seem obvious, although for others they may become a revelation.

Main enemy laptop - dust. If the device, due to the specifics of the user’s place of work, is used, for example, on a construction site or on the street, then its lifespan may be reduced to a year. Symptoms of severe contamination of the laptop’s ventilation system may include frequent freezes, spontaneous restarts, unstable work. To prevent all this, it is necessary to periodically (depending on operating conditions) clean the keyboard, visible ventilation holes, as well as the internal space under the removable covers of the processor units, hard drive and memory. For this, special compressed air cylinders or “blowers” ​​made of special rubber are usually used. The latter are extremely rare on sale, but they have important advantage- unlike cylinders, you will only have to spend money on such a device once. Well, if you don’t have either one at hand, you can take a soft thin brush and carefully go through all the cracks. Blowing on dust is not recommended, as this can cause moisture to get into the laptop. To remove dirt firmly settled on the plastic parts of the case and keyboard, special cleaning liquids or sprays and wipes are used. Typically, the liquid is applied to the surface from a spray can and rubbed with napkins.

Often the sides of the keys cannot be cleaned, so if the keyboard is very dirty, you can disassemble it by prying off each key with a screwdriver. But this task is labor-intensive and requires patience. Can be purchased special set keyboard cleaners, which include sponges, brushes, sprays - in a word, everything to clean the keyboard without disassembling the laptop and without violating the warranty. Miniature vacuum cleaners for the keyboard are also sold that connect to the USB port of the computer, but in practice they are ineffective because they do not have required power.

Particular care should be taken when cleaning the screen. First, using a compressed air cylinder, it is necessary to remove all volatile particles (especially often they accumulate along the edges of the matrix). Then use special liquids and lint-free wipes designed for wiping LCD screens to remove adhered dirt. The use of various alcohol-containing liquids can damage the matrix, so among the “improvised” means, only ordinary water (in moderation) is absolutely suitable. The liquid is applied to a soft, lint-free cloth or microfiber cloth, sold in any optical store.

For optical devices dust is much more dangerous than for the case and keyboard. This is why you should not keep open tray optical drive for a long time. You can't touch either optical system hands or any foreign objects. To clean the drive, it is better to use a kit that includes special disk.

For laptop not only scary dust and dirt. Extreme temperatures have a destructive effect on system components. temperature regime. In our country, these are usually low temperatures. If you want your laptop to work for a long time, you cannot cool it below -10 °C Celsius. At this temperature, the Li-lon battery will be the first to suffer. The loss of its capacity cannot be restored later. Cooling by another five degrees can provoke delamination of the matrix due to the difference in the magnitude of thermal deformation of the materials. This temperature will also have a detrimental effect on the physical properties of the plastic from which the device body is made - from extreme cold he becomes fragile. After walking with a laptop along a frosty street, under no circumstances should you turn it on immediately upon returning home; rapid heating will create the effect of moisture condensation on electronic components, which can lead to breakdowns. Ideally, you need to keep the laptop at room temperature for about two hours. The conclusion is simple: in winter you can’t carry a laptop outside without a warm bag, much less use it in the fresh air.

Besides negative temperatures For a laptop, as for any computer, overheating of internal components is especially dangerous, so each laptop is equipped with a number of ventilation holes, which are extremely undesirable to overlap. People often work on a laptop with it on their lap, and manufacturers, as if on purpose, like to place the cooler unit and ventilation holes on the bottom of the laptop.

Today it is difficult to imagine the life of most people without a computer, especially since with its help you can find any information on the Internet, as well as communicate online. in social networks with relatives and friends from other cities. With the advent of inexpensive laptops on sale, people have increasingly begun to buy them, mainly due to space savings and portability. Its small dimensions and the presence of a battery make it possible to work with it not only at the table, but also to move it to places more convenient for you. But due to such frequent movements, frequent breakdowns occur. Therefore, to prolong your life mobile computer You need to know how to care for your laptop.

Only a flat and hard surface

Surely, everyone has thought about putting their laptop on the bed or on their lap, and many do just that. In principle, nothing bad will happen right away, but when installing this device on a soft surface, the hole in the lower part of the case, which is intended for ventilation, is blocked.

If there is a serious overload, for example when starting a game, not only will the CPU, but also all the boards are inside, which can damage some parts. In addition, various fibers and dust will get into the holes, clogging the radiator and significantly impairing the efficiency of the cooling system. Even if this does not bother you and does not make you want to give up the habit of using a PC, there is another solution to this problem -.

Electrical connection

A laptop can be used in different ways. Some people plug it into a power outlet only to recharge and carry it with them all the time, while others use it as a desktop computer. In any case, you should not constantly leave the power supply connected to the outlet. This has absolutely nothing to do with the safety of the battery, since modern devices have protection that turns off the voltage supply to it when it is 100% charged.

Important! The principle of operation of a power supply for a laptop is somewhat different from the operation of a power supply for a desktop PC, which turns off after the computer is turned off. When you turn off the laptop, its power supply does not turn off, but continues to work, which over time shortens its service life. To prevent this from happening:

• A way out of the situation could be.
• It wouldn’t hurt to choose and.

Store in a safe place

Some accidental damage to a mobile computer occurs even when it is not in use. This may be due to a laptop power cord lying inconveniently in the wrong place, which can easily be caught with your foot while passing by. The consequences can be different - from a severed power cord to a completely broken device - depending on the height from which it falls.

Important! When storing a laptop for a long time, to ensure proper care, it is also advisable to remove the almost fully charged battery and store it separately in a cool place. Otherwise, you may need to buy new battery, since its performance will be significantly reduced if stored under normal conditions.

Cleaning

Even with normal use of a mobile computer, over time a fairly large amount of dust accumulates in it, which clogs the ventilation system and prevents air circulation. Therefore, laptop care

In terms of cleaning, this is simply a must:

• The rotation speed of the laptop cooler is automatically adjusted depending on the processor load. Many laptop users may notice after some time that they had not heard it before, but now it buzzes much louder. To remove accumulated dust, you can use a can of compressed air by simply blowing it out of the radiator.

Important! Using a vacuum cleaner in this case is quite risky, since it produces a large amount of static electricity - even one unsuccessful spark can cause damage to some microcircuits.

• Also, do not forget about the keyboard, in which not only dust, but also crumbs from your cookies and sandwiches can get stuck. They can be eliminated in the same way using a can of compressed air.
• Particular care must be taken while on screen. When wiping fingerprints and dust from it, you should not apply the detergent directly to the screen; besides, not every product is suitable for these purposes. We discussed this topic separately in detail in the publication.

Important! A cloth that is too hard can permanently damage the screen, leaving scratches on it, which will be especially noticeable on a glossy screen.

You spent a long time surfing online stores, comparing the characteristics of different laptops, and finally made your choice and bought the right laptop. Most likely, you want it to serve you for many years and retain its salable appearance, so that in the future you can sell it at a good price and buy more powerful laptop. Therefore, in this article I will tell you how to care for your laptop and how to prevent it from getting damaged.

How to care for and use a laptop at home.

Observe temperature conditions. The main thing that causes laptops to deteriorate and fail is overheating. You cannot use a laptop on a bed or in a chair, without using special stand. If you do not have this stand, then try not to cover the ventilation hole with a sheet or your hands, and also try to keep the device as horizontal as possible to the floor. If the room is very hot in summer, it is recommended to use additional cooling. Also, don’t rush to turn on your laptop; if you just came in from the cold, wait 50 minutes.

External cleanliness of the laptop. Once a month you should wipe your laptop, to do this:

1. Disconnect your computer from the network;
2. Turn it off and close it;
3. Turn bottom side up;
4. Take the spray and a cloth, wipe the underside;
5. Turn the device over and wipe it clean top part, just do not press too hard so as not to damage the matrix;
6. Also wipe down the rubber feet. there should be no dirt on them.

By carrying out such cleaning, dust and greasy marks will not accumulate on the laptop body.

Avoid small blows to the body. Even a minor impact can damage your laptop. The first thing that might get hurt is HDD because it has moving parts (this does not apply to SSD drives). The motherboard and video card may also be damaged. So, even when transporting your computer in a car, try to avoid any vibrations.

Use an antivirus. Antivirus should be used not only on desktop computer, but also on a laptop. Nowadays, viruses are circulating on the Internet almost everywhere and it is not difficult to catch them; to do this, you definitely need to purchase licensed antivirus or use a free one (the best free antiviruses)

Clean your laptop from dust. At least once a year you need to completely disassemble your computer and clean it of dust, and if you live in hot countries, then at least twice a year. If your coolers start to work intermittently or speed up and then stop working, this is a sign that your laptop is dirty. You need to completely disassemble the laptop and blow out all the dust. If you decide to do this yourself, then remember that from where you unscrewed and pulled it out, also do not use brute force to open something. If your device is still on warranty service, then you can take it to service center, where they will clean it for you.

Screen care.

How to care for a laptop screen is a fairly common question, which is not surprising, because the screen is constantly in our sight and we want to keep it clean. People often search and buy various means to clean the monitor, but this is not necessary; you can prepare such a solution yourself.

1. Mix distilled water and vinegar in proportions of 50 to 50;
2. Wet a cloth and wipe the screen;
3. Then wipe with a dry cotton rag or an old cloth, but not with paper (it can scratch the display);
4. You can also dampen a cloth with water and wipe the screen.

I would also not recommend putting pressure on the top cover of the computer or placing objects on it, because they can damage the monitor. Try not to drop the laptop, because the matrix will suffer first and will have to be replaced. Enough frequent breakdown- this is a screen failure.

Battery care.

The second most important question clients ask computer technicians- it’s like caring for a laptop battery, to which they answer very simply. Laptop batteries are one of the hottest items in electronics stores because they have a limited lifespan, so here are some tips to help your battery last longer.

• If you often work at home and your laptop is connected to the network, then it is recommended to remove the battery and keep it outside the laptop.
• Do not bring the computer's charge level to a critical minimum, thereby greatly reducing the life of the battery.
• Try to keep the laptop and battery in temperature range from -25 to +45 degrees. If you have removed the battery and stored it separately, then the recommended temperature for separate storage is from 0 to +10 degrees.
• The lifespan of a battery is equal to a certain number of its charges, so no matter how much you want to extend its life, sooner or later you will have to replace it with a new one.

Keyboard care.

The laptop keyboard collects dirt the most, since we often touch it, so now we’ll figure out how to care for the laptop keyboard. Firstly, never eat or drink near your computer. Since small crumbs fly under the keyboard and it becomes difficult to press the keys, they also begin to stick together. If you accidentally spill liquid on the keyboard, quickly remove the battery and take your laptop to a service center.

Cleaning the keyboard It is also recommended to carry out once a year, during complete cleaning laptop. You can clean it yourself. disassembling and remembering what was unscrewed where and what was pulled out from where, or go to a service center, where they will not only clean your keyboard, but also the entire computer.

As you can see, you can take care of your laptop at home, it is not difficult and does not take much time, but you will extend the life of your iron friend.

Video on how to care for your laptop.

If a person does not take care of his health, abuses alcohol and cigarettes, then he is unlikely to live long. The same rule applies to technology. This article will provide a number of fairly effective recommendations that will help you avoid problems when using laptop computers.

The main enemy of laptop computers is dust. If, due to the specific location of the user's workplace, dirt and dust accumulate on the device, its service life may be significantly reduced. Severe contamination of a laptop can lead to problems such as unstable operation, freezes, spontaneous starts etc.

To prevent these symptoms from occurring, you should regularly clean your keyboard and visible vents. You should also clean the space under the removable cover of the unit with the processor, memory and hard drive. Typically, a compressed air cylinder is used for this purpose, as well as special devices - air traps. They are quite rarely found on sale, but unlike cylinders they can be used many times. If you don’t have a compressed air cylinder or air traps on hand, you can use a regular thin brush.

It is not recommended to blow on dust. In this case, moisture may get into the laptop. To remove dust deposits that have settled on the plastic parts of the keyboard and case, you can use special napkins and sprays. The liquid is usually applied to the surface of the laptop from a can with a special sprayer, and then rubbed with napkins. The sides of the keys are especially difficult to clean, so if the keyboard is very dirty, you will have to disassemble it.

To do this, each key must be picked up with a screwdriver. This is a rather labor-intensive process that will require a lot of patience from you. You can buy a special set of tools for cleaning your keyboard. It usually includes sponges, sprays, brushes, in other words, everything you need to clean your keyboard. In this case, you do not have to disassemble the laptop. You can also find special vacuum cleaners designed for cleaning keyboards on sale. They are connected to the USB port of the laptop. But it is worth noting that in practice similar devices not very effective. They do not have the necessary power.

Particular attention should be paid to cleaning the screen. First you need to remove all volatile particles using a can of compressed air. Dust tends to accumulate along the edges of the matrix. After this, using lint-free wipes and special liquids, you need to remove adhered dirt from the screen. Using alcohol-containing solutions may damage the matrix. From available means, you can only use ordinary water. The liquid must be applied to a soft cloth or napkin.

You can use special microfiber cloths, which are sold in an optical store. It is worth noting that dust poses a much greater threat to optical devices than to the keyboard housing. For this reason, you should not leave the optical drive tray open for long periods of time. Also, do not touch the optical system with foreign objects or hands. To clean the drive, it is better to use a kit that includes a special disk.

But it's not just dirt and dust that's scary for laptop computers. Threat to components computing system represent extreme temperatures. As a rule, in our country we're talking about O low temperatures. If you want your laptop to serve you faithfully for many years, try not to cool it to temperatures below -10 degrees. First of all, the battery of the device suffers from such exposure. It is impossible to restore the battery capacity.

Cooling a laptop to -15 degrees can cause delamination of the matrix due to differences in the thermal deformation values ​​of the materials. This temperature can also have a detrimental effect on the physical properties of the material from which the housing is made. In most cases it is plastic. The cold can make it too fragile. If the laptop has been left in the cold for a long time, it should not be turned on immediately upon returning home. Electronic components heat up quickly, which can lead to condensation and, consequently, to breakdowns. The laptop should ideally be kept in a room at room temperature for about two hours. Try not to carry your laptop in cold weather without a special case. In the fresh air at sub-zero temperatures, it is better not to use the device at all.

Dangerous for internal components laptop computer and overheating. For this reason, every laptop has several ventilation holes. It is highly undesirable to overlap them. Many users prefer to work on a laptop while holding it on their laps, which is strictly not recommended.

As you can see for yourself, all the tips and recommendations given are quite simple. Just follow them and you can ensure your laptop has a long life.