A laptop can hold your life. If you’re working from home, it’s essential to your income. For students, it’s where you keep all your notes and essays. Plus, there are the personal photos and videos. And you sometimes use it to stream your TV shows, or to video chat with friends and family. You may even make music, create art, or be writing the next bestselling novel on your laptop. So, you want to keep it in great shape. Here are five tips to protect your laptop.
Or throw it, or stand on it, or expect it to withstand any serious impact. OK, that’s pretty obvious. You also don’t want to use your laptop in the bathtub or at the pool. Even a simple water spill on a laptop can damage the circuitry. If you do get your laptop wet, immediately turn it off and unplug everything attached to it.
Laptops are getting thinner in every iteration. Some now even have foldable screens. The thinner and more flexible screen may look sleek and cool, but it’s also less rigid, which makes it more prone to damage. Especially on lower-cost laptops, the screen can flex if you open the computer up from just one side.
Yet, many of us hold a laptop in one hand and open the lid with the other. This can cause the screen to twist. Use both hands to open the laptop. Or get into the habit of opening your laptop from the center to avoid flex.
When did you last see each member of your team, face to face? With everything as it is, it’s probably been some time. But are you still keeping in touch?
Motivation is key to getting a job done well. So if any of your people are feeling invisible or overlooked, they may not be working as efficiently as they normally do.
Equally, it could be affecting their mental health, too.
We recommend you schedule regular video meetings with your team both as a group, and individually as well.
Don’t forget that coaching, development, and performance reviews shouldn’t grind to a halt just because you’re not all in your usual office.
Most of us can differentiate between hardware and software. But how many know what firmware refers to? More importantly, is your business securing its firmware against security vulnerabilities?
Your business knows it needs to keep its operating systems (OSs) up to date. Installing patches as they are released helps protect your OS and software applications from attack.
Yet firmware can be easily overlooked when setting up cyber protection. You’re opening up Explorer every day, and your business relies on its Excel spreadsheets, but you don’t think about the basic software that runs the hardware as intended – that’s the firmware.
Without firmware, your computer wouldn’t know how to detect its hard drive, and the gears on the business printer wouldn’t spin to pull the paper through the device. There's firmware in network and sound cards, routers, range extenders, keyboards, and more. Firmware also makes your webcam or surveillance camera work correctly.
Cybercriminals aren’t known for their lazy reliance on just one tactic. Instead, they are constantly finding new ways to exploit business devices and systems, and this includes attacking firmware. Without securing your firmware, you run the risk of bad actors:
A firewall sounds like a pretty intense thing – unless you’re an action-movie stuntman. Yet when it comes to internet security, you may not have as much firewall protection as you need.
Many internet security products bundle antivirus and firewall software, and many users think this is enough. But first, let’s be clear about what a software firewall actually does:
There are drawbacks, though. Software firewalls work only on the computers on which they are installed, and you’ll need to buy multiple licenses to protect several computers.
You also need expertise to administer the firewall to keep up with changing threats. And there are security threats. Bad actors target software firewalls. They're right there on the computer they seek to exploit.
Many businesses also use hardware firewalls to add security. A hardware firewall around your office network acts as a perimeter boundary. The hardware firewall is like the border guard keeping an eye out for dangerous traffic. The firewall inspects incoming internet traffic to protect you from malware and cyberthreats.
You love your technology and probably have a lot of it at home. You might not think of computers, smartphones, printers, or routers as a fire risk, but they can do real damage.
Microwaves, laundry machines, and air conditioners are the top sources of residential fires, but computer equipment is also responsible for fires that injure and kill homeowners.
So, what should you do? Keep in mind that your technology generates heat when it’s switched on; that’s why it’s designed with venting. But desktops, laptops, routers, modems, and printers can all overheat.
Desktop computers have fans to push out the air, but they can get clogged with dust or blocked. Often, we’ll see computers pushed up again a wall, covered with papers, or kept in a small alcove that gets no airflow.
Laptops can also overheat. People often sit with their laptops literally on their lap, or on a blanket or pillow. If you’re blocking the device’s exhaust port, the laptop can’t cool down.
There are many problems with isolation. We don’t want to get you started. We know it’s true, but one issue we can help with is computer repair. Yes, there are problems with your home devices that we can address remotely.
Perhaps before sheltering in place you were willing to make do, or you're only facing challenges now. You're working at home, kids are online learning, and you're sharing the same computer.
You need to remain connected to the world and continue working, but you don’t want someone to come into your house to check your computer, and you’re not keen on going out to wait in line at a computer repair shop. Fortunately, with technology today, it’s much easier for IT experts to resolve computer issues remotely.
There are many common computer issues that we can help address remotely. We’ll start out by sending you a link to download a tool that gives us remote access and control of your computer. Please know that we value our customers’ privacy. Even with this tool, we’ll still be able to access the computer only when you allow us to.
Now, what can we do once we have eyes on your computer from our remote location? Many things.
During the COVID19 outbreak, we are taking extra measures to make sure the health and I and you are not affected
All devices and fully cleaned on arrival and before we hand it back to you.
The credit card terminal will also we cleaned before and after use (just in case)
The workshop door is pined open so you won't need to touch the handle (again just in case)
We will also be wear gloves as another form of protection (again just in case)
