Computers, phones, tablets, and other devices aren’t exactly cheap. It’s never pleasant when a device powers off and no matter what you try, you can’t bring it back to life. While they’re not terribly expensive either, it is still nice to get a long life out of your device.
How do you extend the life of your devices, helping you keep some of your hard-earned money in your pocket?
It’s relatively easy and cost-effective to keep your devices well maintained as opposed to having to replace them. Well-maintained devices may live years longer than devices that is rarely or never maintained. We’re going to share some easy-to-do and useful maintenance tips to help you get the most out of your devices with you in this article.
Run patch updates regularly.
Patches for Operating Systems (OS) as well as apps often contain critical security updates for security flaws recently discovered. It’s an organic process and over time, developers will update software to improve stability, remove outdated features, correct security flaws, and improve the user experience. If you do not update your software regularly, you may be leaving your system open for attack.
Keep Food and Beverages a safe distance from your computers and devices.
This one is rather self-explanatory. When you’re working, watching YouTube, or scrolling through your social media feeds, it’s nice to have a drink and snack close by, it can be costly though! Crumbs from snacks may clog open ports while a spill may fry the components in a device. We recently wrote about what to do when you get your smartphone wet (read the article here), and it’s not the liquid itself that kills a device, it’s the flow of electricity. Once the electricity hits the liquid, it will fry the internal components and may ultimately kill the device.
Have desiccant on hand.
In line with keeping food and beverages a safe distance away from your computer and devices. We’ve all heard the adage, “put it in a bowl of rice.” While rice does help to pull out the liquid from a device, there are products designed specifically for this purpose that do the job better than rice. This is a great precaution to be prepared in the instance you get a device wet, just in case you, let’s say, drop your phone in the toilet (we hope this never happens to you!).
Organize cords and clear the clutter.
With the pandemic, there has been a huge push to work from home (WFH). Many of us have hastily thrown together a home office which is not optimal for us. At home, you may have young kids, pets, or family members around the house which adds to a chaotic setup. Often, this leads to a mess of cords, power strips, and random accessories around the working area.
The cords can create multiple hazards from tripping hazards to fire hazards. If you trip on a cord, you may pull the cord out of the device, knock the device of the desk, or worse, damage some of the components or break the screen. All of this may shorten the life of the device.
We have a lot on our desks these days, from our monitors, printers, cell phone charger, work phone, keyboard and more. It can create a lot of clutter and chaos. Organize the cords with cable management (you have many options) and go wireless where you can. Organizing your workspace by removing the hazards while eliminating distractions which help to improve your efficiency and production.
Be wary of unfamiliar WiFI networks
Just about any place we go these days offers free WiFi, it’s a nice accommodation businesses make for us. Think of the common places you go such as coffee shops, hotel lobbies, airports, libraries, and other public places that offer free WiFi. Often, these networks do not have basic network security, putting your computer, tablet, or phone at risk for any hacker that feels like hacking you. When you need to connect to a public network, consider using a virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt your connection and keep hackers at bay.
Put a screen protector on your phone or tablet.
Many of us use a phone case but a much smaller percentage of us use a screen protector. How many of us have cracked or shattered our phone screen? The screens on our phones and tablet are durable but they are not impervious to damage. Have you ever sat at a table, in the car, or on the couch and put your phone on your lap? When you go to get up, you don’t always think about your phone and before you know it, you’re in a full lunge trying to catch your phone before it hits the floor. While your phone may not break on this fall, if it hits the floor just right, you could do some damage; the harder the surface, the more likely it is to crack your screen.
A screen protector may not protect your screen from during a bad fall, it does add some as well as preventing scratches. We’ve seen many phone displays that have cracked and are still held together with a screen protector.
Don’t leave batteries plugged into chargers.
How many are guilty of this one? With the increase in devices being powered by batteries, it’s tempting to simply plug a device into a charger and forget about it. When you overcharge batteries, it slows down the regenerative properties of the battery, negatively impacting how long a battery will hold a charge. Also, leaving a battery plugged into the charger may cause the battery to swell and ultimately, battery failure. Have you ever seen a laptop’s trackpad or casing break from battery swell?
Tip: Smart Charger. When a battery reaches 100% charged, the flow of electricity from the charger to the battery doesn’t stop, unless you have a smart charger.
Keep your keyboard, mouse, and open ports clean.
While this is an easy step, staying on top of it is another matter. When your keyboard or mouse gets dirty and you allow that dirt to build up, they will eventually stop functioning properly. To clean your keyboard and mouse, use a damp, lint-free cloth to wipe it clean. Be sure to not spray water directly onto the keyboard as this will on may matter worse (recall us talking about keeping beverages away from your devices above?). Do not neglect the ports either because when dirt and dust build-up around a port, the airflow is reduced, and the chance of overheating increases. To clean harder-to-reach areas, grab a can of compressed air.
Utilize an external hard drive for extra storage.
We’ve all run into a lack of space on our hard drive which may slow down your computer, hurting performance. An external hard drive is a cost-effective way to help prevent this. You can store extra files on the external hard drive rather than the device’s hard drive.
Bonus for using an external hard drive, you can backup your computer just in case you need it.
Well-Maintained devices live longer.
Following the above steps, you’ll find that it’s easy to keep your computers and devices well-maintained. When you do not maintain your computer and devices, things like water damage, physical damage, hacks, and more may shorten the life of your device. While computer prices have come down over the years, phone pricing has increased slightly. Replacing a device costs more money than maintaining a device. Keep more of your hard-earned money in your pocket by maintaining your computer and devices.