13 mistakes that shorten your laptop’s life

When your laptop starts taking what seems like forever to start up – but then its battery plummets immediately – you probably just throw up your hands in frustration, thinking that that’s just the way of the technology world. But there are actually plenty of ways you can make your machine last longer – by avoiding these common laptop practices that can cause it to die before its time.

Just because it’s called a laptop doesn’t mean you should set it on your lap. In fact, putting it there too often could cut the computer’s lifespan short. “The processor is the brain of the computer, and it gets really, really hot, and it needs to vent this heat somewhere,” explains Aaron Schoeffler, director of operations for Computer Repair Doctor. “Oftentimes, the fan is located on the bottom of the laptop, where there’s a little ventilation.” But if that vent is covered by your pants or a blanket, your laptop could overheat, or dust might start to settle inside. Compressed air can sometimes move the dust around enough to bring the laptop back to tip-top shape, but it could also end up with internal damage that requires professional help.

For the most part, your laptop can probably handle your habit of keeping a ton of tabs open at once. But if it isn’t well ventilated, making it work hard to keep all those pages going could cause extra stress. “The more your processor is having to work, the more heat it’s going to generate, and ultimately that does shorten the lifespan,” says Trey Eiland, managing partner at computer support service 5Q Partners.

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It’s easy to just shut your laptop lid at the end of the night so that it boots up in just a couple seconds the next morning, but leaving it on all the time means you aren’t getting the updates your computer needs. Systems need ‘patches’ to fix vulnerabilities or improve the software. “Most of those patches don’t take effect unless you restart your computer,” says Eiland. He recommends shutting it down at least once a week, though more often is better.

When you have to carry your laptop around, make sure you tuck it in the laptop slot if your bag has one, or slip it into a padded case before putting it in your bag, suggests Eiland. That way, if you drop your bag or plop it on the floor, there will be something softening the blow for the computer inside.

Unless you have a new model, your laptop probably has what’s called a hard disk drive (HDD) – it’s what causes that whirring noise when you boot it up. Unfortunately, that HDD can’t spin fast enough to keep up with demands after a while, which is why tech experts recommend upgrading to a solid state drive (SSD). When you boot up a computer and it takes one to two minutes instead of five to ten seconds, it’s a pretty big difference, says Schoeffler. Ask your local computer pros if they can install one for you – it’s a worthwhile investment.

Especially if you have an HDD, you’ll want to be careful when carrying your laptop around. “If you have something spinning really fast and you’re jostling it around, you have a high chance of causing some kind of damage,” says Schoeffler. Damage to the hard drive is one of the most expensive repairs, he says, so be mindful when you’re carrying it around – and it should go without saying that you should try not to drop your laptop too. SSDs aren’t as delicate, which is an added bonus to upgrading.

If your Windows laptop has been running way too slowly, try hitting Ctrl + Shift + Esc to bring up Task Manager, suggests Schoeffler. Go to the Start-up tab to find a list of all the apps that open when you boot your laptop up and how much impact they have on the startup time. Right-click on any programs that you don’t use every day and click “Disable”. “It doesn’t mean it won’t run, it just means you have to manually start it,” says Schoeffler. Next time you restart, you should notice that things are ready to go faster.

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Over time, the files on your laptop can become fragmented, meaning files that should be next to each other aren’t. If you have a Windows laptop, “defragging” your computer is a way of compressing and putting those files back together so that your computer doesn’t have to work so hard. “Basically, it organises your data on your hard drive in a way that’s more efficient for the laptop,” says Eiland. “You can see the data being organised and the gaps being closed.” A defragmentation tool should already be built into your computer, so just type “defrag” in the search bar and it should pop up.

Hopefully, this goes without saying, but antivirus software is essential for keeping bugs out of your system. “If you do get malware or a virus on your laptop, it can run hot at that point and can break your whole laptop,” says Eiland. Most should install updates automatically, but make sure you pick a trusted brand the first time around.