Top 10 List of Secure Computing Practices
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6 Healthy Computing Practices
1. Power cycle the battery – This really only applies when you buy the laptop new (or you buy a new battery for your laptop). In order to get the longest life out of your battery, you need to kill it a few times. By that I mean you need to unplug the power cord, and run the laptop on just battery power until it actually shuts off. Then, plug the power cord in and let the battery fully charge again. Go through this cycle twice or even three times, and it will break in the battery properly so that you will get the longest life from it.
2. Use on a flat surface – You might see pictures of people using their laptop with it sitting on their bed, or on a couch cushion. It might look cool in an ad, but it’s a bad idea! Wherever you are using the laptop, it should be sitting on a surface that is hard and flat. If you want to use it in bed, just get one of those lap desks with a hard surface and a bean bag underside. Laptops can get hot, and they need to have good ventilation.
3. Don’t tip it – This is a big one! If you tip the laptop up in order to pick it up, the power jack gets stressed (this is where the power cord plugs into the laptop). If you do that enough, eventually the power cord will no longer make good contact with the power jack, and it won’t charge the battery. This is not usually an easy fix. It’s easily avoided though!
4. Use a cooling pad – I already mentioned the issue of heat. Laptops get hot, and when they are hot they don’t operate as efficiently (kind of like humans in that way). A cooling pad is a cheap investment in the long life of your laptop – about $15 – $20. They have 2-3 fans and get their power from one of the USB ports. Your laptop sits on top of it and those fans suck away the hot air.
5. Don’t have drinks near it – This is one of those things that you don’t really place a lot of priority on, until you spill a drink and ruin your laptop. After that, the “No Drinks” rule is hard and fast. Until then, however, you will probably have some kind of beverage nearby and not think much about it because you will “always be careful”. Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
6. Install Prey tracking software – This program is amazing! And free! Download it at www.PreyProject.com, and create your free account. I have talked about Prey before. It’s sort of like insurance. If your laptop gets stolen, there is very little chance that the police will recover it. It’s just gone. But, if you install Prey, it runs in the background and the thief can’t see it running. All you do is report it stolen, and the software goes into action – when it goes online, it will send back reports of where it is located. And even cooler – if the laptop has a webcam, it will grab pictures of the person using it. It can also take screenshots and send them to you. I think it’s your best chance of getting back a stolen laptop.
10 Ways to Extend Your Laptop's Battery Life
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Protect Your Software
Licensed software can be very expensive, sometimes costing hundreds of dollars. It is important to protect software from damage and secure it from unauthorized use. Most software is copyright protected, which means sharing or copying software without written consent of the copyright holder is illegal. Register the software according to the manufacturer’s directions for the number and location of users. Some licences are for one computer station only; others are for multiple workstations.
Protect Your Personal Work
The work you produce on a computer becomes priceless once you have invested time, energy, and ideas.