1) Carrying: If you're going to carry your laptop like a book under one hand always do so with your hand under and completely supporting the back, bottom or latch portion of the laptop depending on which of the three is the strongest area, note that with some widescreen laptops the Latch may be the strongest point. Look at the laptop while it is closed and then open to determine which area is the thickest and /or more well supported area. Never carry a laptop by the sides and never by one hand squeezing one area, this will help prevent damage to your laptop. Regardless of how you choose to carry your laptop always be careful not to push or place pressure on the screen area, even when it is closed, and do not, repeat, do not carry it around while it is still plugged in!.

2) Opening & Transporting = NEVER,NEVER, NEVER !! Open your laptop by ONE side. Open your laptop by the middle using both hands and opening like a book or by placing your hands on either side of the screen and lifting the top simultaneously by both sides. This will prevent a very common cracking and/or damaging of the screen. Screens can be fairly expensive to replace and often difficult to find as each model is different. Many people do not realize how delicate the screen can be and often make the mistake of thinking that it cannot be damaged once the laptop is closed. OH Contraire! Putting to much pressure on the outside of the laptop even when closed can and will damage the screen if you are not careful. I want to cry when I see a good functional laptop come in with thumb bruises at the top of the screen because someone was trying to be cool and hold it in one hand, or a there's big ring in the middle from the morning coffee cup. It's not a desk- to avoid damage make it a hard and fast rule that nothing heavier than a single piece of paper is ever placed on top of your laptop even when it is closed and sitting on the coffee table. (Another good reason to leave it open a little as mentioned in the next paragraph- think about it.)

3) Do Not keep your latop fully open unless you are there working on it. If you stop, whether you walk away or not; leave it approx. 1/4 open or open at a 45 degree angle, this will prevent small animals from walking across the keyboard, accidental placement of anything on top of your closed laptop or if it's on the floor it can help with visibilty. However, I recommend that you never, ever leave your laptop on the floor- especially around children and clumsy adults. In addition to this I will caution you to never, ever place anything on the keyboard or armrest of your machine (except your hands etc of course) as any small thing just might cause damage to the latches, bruise the screen etc, should the machine be accidently closed upon it, this includes notebooks, cloth of any kind, even scraps of paper and notes.

4) Passwords: Here's the deal - NO Bios passwords, EVER! I know we all want to protect our information but a bios password can be anywhere from difficult to impossible to remove depending on the model and it's all too common for people to forget the password or to accidentally type it in wrong leaving them with a very expensive and very useless table ornament. Feel free to use a Windows Password and make it difficult for anyone else to figure out but do yourself this one favor ~write it down! I recommend that you write it down on 3 seperate pieces of paper and hide them far away from your desk and your wallet. Put 2 of them someplace you will remember but others wouldn't think to look, take the third and give it to that one person you know you could trust with your life! Also when you type it in do it slowly and carefully, be sure every letter and number is correct- now matter how good a typist you are anyone can make a mistake, a very costly mistake. If you do by chance forget your password and have not followed the instructions above, you will need to have your computer completely reprogrammed, which means you will lose everything extra including pictures, documents, music, even some programs that you have added on.

5) Drinks & Spills - Well to begin with, feel free to keep your drink within easy reach, by all means, but keep if far enough away that should it spill it will not hit the laptop, and try leaning back a little while sipping your coffee to avoid problems. Just keep in mind that should you or someone else spill liquid onto your laptop DO NOT and I do mean DO NOT run for a towel ~ Go for the Power FIRST ~ reach over and unplug the power supply from your laptop; Immediately if not sooner, as my Mom would say. If it's on battery power - don't wait for windows- hold your power button down until the machine powers off. Now you may go for that towel. Use the keboard as your drain, a sticky keyboard can be cleaned or replaced lot easier and less expensively than your machine can. Remember: Always wait at least 48-72 hours before trying to power the machine back up again just to be on the safe side, you want the inside completely dry when you turn it on again, so even afer 72 hours if you don't think the inside is completely dry; Wait until it is.

7) Plug-Ins and Externals ~ Best advice, unplug everything prior to moving your laptop. This includes, the power supply, external wireless cards, flash drives and other USB devices, everything! It may seem a little paranoid, however, bumping or pressing on one of these too hard can damage the port and/or the connections inside on the motherboard causing permanent or extremely expensive damage. Trust me when I tell you that "board level repairs" are very expensive and it is often quite difficult to find someone who will do them.

Never put your laptop away, especially into a bag or brief case prior to removing all external items, and be sure to remove them properly- use the "remove your device" method or wait til the machine is fully powered off before removing or unplugging any devise from your machine. As for Power Supply's, the connection for the power supply is one of the number one killers of all laptops. When unpluging the power supply or any other devise DO NOT and again I really really mean Do NOT wiggle, jiggle, or otherwise manhandle the connection; pull it straight out, do not yank, do not use too much force, check to see if there is something holding it in or if you are just at the wrong angle because if you damage the connection on the motherboard you will live to regret it. The same is true of plugging them in. Generally if you really have to force the connections together, you are putting it in either the wrong place or the wrong way, take a second look.

8) Tap the Keys and Pad do not bang them. We've all been irritated and/or pissed off by our computers, but banging the keys or poking the pad harder is not going to help, it's not going to make it run any faster and you can wind up doing extensive damage. Take a deep breath and count to ten, if it's still not up; walk away for awhile, especially with internet pages, try to rememebr that your computer can only go as fast as the browser is capable of at the particular moment. Here's another little tip: don't throw away keys if they fall off, or decide you have to get a new machine because they are not working or are sticky, keys can be generally be replaced as most just snap on and keyboards can be cleaned or replaced if they get sticky, it's alot easier and less expensive than replacing your machine.

9) Upgrading - Please if you are going to upgrade your laptop use a professional or at the very least do some extensive research, if it's under warranty have the store or manufaturers representative do the work. (This is also true if you have problems with the machine; always check the warranty before you do anything!) Reprogramming may seem like an easy job, but what if you accidently erase a restore petition? or wind up putting two copies of Windows or Norton or even Open Office on? Talk about a mess! Even the smaller simpler jobs can be more involved than most people realize. Okay, so replacing the memory looks pretty simple so why pay someone to do a 3 second job? Because there are well over a Dozen different types of memory out there and only ONE works with your particular laptop and even then the machine or the memory could be what we professionals call "fussy". I love it when a person walks in and asks

"Do you sell memory? The conversation generally goes something like this:

Sure What Kind do you need?

AHH, for a Dell?

What model Dell? Inspiron, Precision? Laptop, Desktop?

Yeah a laptop!

Do you know what type of memory it takes or what the model # or service tag # is?

Yeah, I told you it's a Dell!!

Okay, there are a number of different types of memory, PC100, PC133, DDR, DDR 2, it could be ECC, ECC Registered, which one would you like?

I don't know. But I don't want to pay alot of money and I don't want to have to pay someone just to put it in.

I understand, but we're completely out of the kind of memory you need, I'm sorry.

Now why did I say that?, because, if a customer isn't willing to do the proper reasearch or at the very least listen to what the professional is trying to tell him/her, they are not worth my time! Please keep this in mind, whether you are buying a machine, trying to learn more about them, or looking to upgrade:

Never ask a question you are not going to SHUT UP and listen to the answer to!!!!!

Nobody likes having their time wasted and it is not our job to teach you, so if we are nice enough or poilte enough to give you our time and hard earned knowledge then show some courtesy;

or as my Mom used to say - You have Two ears and One mouth use them accordingly.

10) OverHeating - Get off the floor or bedspread and shut off the machine so it can cool down. It's not really a good idea to use a laptop on the floor or have it on top of fiberous materials. Every machine has vents and fans to keep the CPU and other internals at the proper temperature. Check to see where these vents are, and that they have adequate room to "breathe", you don't want them blocked or in a position where they are being obstructed by fiberous materials, dust, pet hair, etc. These materials can get sucked into the machine and deposited on fans, heatsinks etc causing overheating which can burn out your processor, motherboard, etc. So be careful of where you use it, and always, regardless of where you use it pay attention to the temperature if it starts getting too hot shut it down and leave it off and unplugged until it is completely cool to the touch, the same is true of your power supply and any other external devise.

Best of Luck and Always Remember to Back up Your Hard Drive Regularly!!