1:1 Laptop Program

Operate your laptop on a safe and stable environment. Do not place on uneven or unstable work surfaces. Placing your laptop on the floor where it can be stepped on or kicked should also be avoided. Seek servicing if the casing has been damaged. Keep your computer centered on your desk. It should not hang off the edge.

Keep liquids away from your laptop. As tempting as it might be to drink coffee, soda or any other liquid near your laptop, accidents can happen all too easily. Spilled liquids may damage the internal components or cause electrical injury to the laptop. Short circuits can corrupt data or even permanently destroy parts. The solution is very simple: Keep your drinks away from your computer. Even if you're careful, someone else might bump into your desk or into you.

Protect the screen (LCD) and body of your laptop. Do not place or drop objects on top and do not shove any foreign objects into the Notebook PC. When you shut your laptop, make sure there are no small items, such as a pencil or small ear-phones, on the keyboard. These can damage the display screen when shut; the screen will scratch if the item is rough. Close the lid gently and holding from the middle. Closing the lid using only one side causes pressure on that hinge, and over time can cause it to bend and snap.

Keep food away from your laptop. Don't eat over your laptop. The crumbs can go down between the keys in the keyboard and provide an invitation to small bugs. The crumbs can also irritate the circuitry. Worse, it makes the laptop look dirty if there are crumbs and food stains on it. Always have clean hands when using your laptop. Clean hands make it easier to use your laptop touchpad and there will be less risk of leaving dirt and other stains on the computer. In addition, if you clean your hands before use, you will help reduce wear and tear on the coating of the laptop caused by contact with sweat and small particles that can act upon the laptop's exterior underneath your wrists and fingers.

Don’t lose data. Stored data is the notebook’s most important commodity. A good rule of thumb: Protect valuable data by backing it up to a cloud storage. TAS provides both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive access. Any hard drive (the laptop’s most sensitive part) can go bad — through no fault of the user — at any time and without warning. Back up, back up, back up work you cannot live without.

Don't expose your laptop to rapid temperature fluctuations. When bringing your laptop indoors from a cold environment, don't turn it on immediately. Instead, let it warm to room temperature first. This will avoid any potential for damage to the disk drive from condensation forming inside the machine.

Protect the LCD display monitor. When you shut your laptop, make sure there are no small items, such as a pencil or small ear-phones, on the keyboard. These can damage the display screen when shut; the screen will scratch if the item is rough. Close the lid gently and holding from the middle. Closing the lid using only one side causes pressure on that hinge and over time can cause it to bend and snap. Do not press or touch the display panel. Do not place together with small items that may scratch or enter the Notebook PC.

Don't pull on the power cord. Tugging your power cord out from the power socket rather than putting your hand directly on the plug in the socket and pulling can break off the plug or damage the power socket. Also, if you have the power point near your feet, avoid constantly bumping into the plug or you could loosen it and eventually break it. Do not expose to strong magnetic or electrical fields.

Don't roll your chair over the computer cord. Stick the cord onto your desk with tape or a special computer cord tie which can be easily undone when you've finished using the laptop. Always try to keep most of the cord away from the floor or your legs; sometimes you can be so engrossed in what you're doing that you move your legs and forget the cord is there.

3,000 viruses threaten PC notebooks daily. Protect against viruses. You must make sure virus definitions are up-to-date. Please check this weekly by right-clicking on the Symantec Antivirus icon in the system tray and selecting Open Symantec Antivirus.

Each TAS-recommended laptop is imaged with Windows Defender virus and malware protection that works at school and at home.