How to Enhance Your Laptop Experience

Laptops are great if you're always out and about or want to save some desk real estate with the tiny foot print a laptop takes up as opposed to a bigger desktop system. There's just something cool about folding up your computer to go outside in the summer breeze to type up your essay or to blog about the events of the day. But there are disadvantages to having a laptop.

Battery life is certainly an issue; if you don't have an extra battery or you've no way to charge it back up, you're pretty much out of luck until you find a way. And because of the tiny size of laptop computers, many dishonest people will not think twice about stealing one. So now that we've established the cool factor of laptops, let's go through some tips that'll make your laptop experience even better.

Battery Life: More Juice

As said before, laptops work with batteries that are not fit for long runs. Still, you can enjoy your laptop for a longer time, if you know how to squeeze your battery juice to the fullest. This strategy that we are about to show you can save you a few hours of stress until you reach a place with an outlet where you can recharge the battery.

The laptop screen is the biggest consumer that drains the life out of the battery. So, in case that you do not need a bright screen in order to complete your work, reduce the light and the configuration to the lowest values. This way, you will have more juice in the laptop battery and it will work more than just 6 hours.

Backup, Backup, Backup!

No matter how sturdy a laptop can look on the outside, you should know that the components inside are delicate enough that a hard knock can inflict serious damage. From all of them, the one that you must be most protective of is the hard drive, the component where all your data is stored. What you need as an assurance is a serious backup. Make a habit out of saving your files and documents from the laptop onto CD-R's, DVD's and thumb drives. This way, any possible damage will be minimized.

Guard Your Laptop

Are you glad when you find a wi-fi hotspot? Of course, because you can have all the advantages of your laptop and log on to the Internet, while enjoying a fine day out of the house. But Internet holds many threats, so, if you do not want any harm happening to your files, or nasty spywares installing, against your will, on your laptop, install a firewall to guard your computer. Also, avoid sharing files freely on the net, as this is like inviting small time hackers to play with your secrets documents. You can do so by simply turning off this option.

Because of the compact size of laptops, they're really easy to steal, so always know your laptop's whereabouts. Encrypting your laptop's hard drive can give you peace of mind; if your laptop gets stolen, as least the files residing on your hard drive are encrypted and cannot easily be viewed or accessed.

Keep Out From the Heat

An usual shortcoming of laptops is that they tend to heat up during usage. In order to keep all this heat away, you need to protect your lap and your knees. Some shops sell laptop sleeves that can be used to fend off the heat, but any piece of clothing large enough to cover your skin where it comes in contact with the hot laptop will do just fine.

Desktop PCs take up desk space, and even with flat LCDs quickly replacing all CRT monitors, flat screens still take up precious desktop space. The portability and compactness of laptops make them so convenient; follow the tips above to make your laptop experience more enjoyable.

About the Author

Kay Brenner is a PC troubleshooting consultant who specializes in restoring your slow PC, saving you time and money wrestling with a slow PC. To reclaim your dream machine you first bought, download a free PC Tune Up