Traveling with your laptop – Part 1

These days we take our laptops everywhere with us, to the coffee shop, to the library, on vacation. In our blog about safe wifi we covered how you can keep your data secure.  What about moving it from place to place or worse getting it conventionally through Airport security! If you have ever traveled through one of these checkpoints with a you know what a pain it can be.
This week we will review how to keep your laptop safe from breakage and thieves and cool during your summer traveling. Let’s start with some basics:
1) Keeping your laptop cool
Turn it off when not using it!  It only takes a couple of seconds, but it can save you money and heartache in the long run. We have already gone of the fundamentals of keeping your laptop cool when you are using it at home or even the coffee shop, but sometimes when you are traveling by bus, train or air it is easy to just shut it and shove it in the case when your boarding pass is called. This is a bad idea folks, laptops run hot, so imagine the heat that can generate by all those components when crammed into a laptop bag. Turning your computer off can save those precious components from overheating and ruining that wonderful novel you are working on this summer.
2) The bag you carry
When you are simply traveling from home to the office or a friend’s house using a simple laptop bag can be ideal. However, when you are traveling to far away ports via commercial channels things can get ugly. The bag is bustled, jostled, and at time has other things thrown on top of it. You want a sturdy laptop bag, one with padding, pockets and as plain as it can get.

Having a bag with pockets is brilliant for organizing and keeping all your laptop accessories together. Preventing from being carelessly jostled together in one area and scratching that gorgeous laptop case. Keep your bag “humble” by not having any logos, pictures or sayings on the bag. This keeps it from being eye catching to those that covet your laptop for its resale value.
3) Make sure to unplug all external devices
Before you hurriedly toss your laptop in its bag take a moment to unplug and detach. Those slender cords used for laptop accessories are fragile things, and blue-tooth adapters are easily squished. Making sure you unplug them will keep them safe from ripping, cracking or fraying. It also gives you more of a reason to buy a bag with all sorts of nifty pockets.
4 – Computer LoJack

If you are traveling a lot this summer laptop Lojack services can help you keep tabs and almost always find a stolen laptop. If you have private information on your laptop and the computer is stolen, this software will allow you to access it and delete those files before they are viewed. Lojack software will also allow your claim to law enforcement to go smoother. Nothing worse than having our portable life support system stolen and being told there is nothing that can be done.
5 – Write it down or take a picture

Somewhere on your laptop should be a service sticker. On the sticker is information that can help you identify and claim a stolen laptop. It seems that every laptop has this tag in a different spot. If you are having trouble locating this on your laptop feel free to give us a ring here at No Ware Computer Repair and we would be happy to help you. Before you leave on your trip either to the coffeehouse or to Tahiti, it is a great idea to record this information, either by writing it down in a notebook you will carry in a place away from the laptop bag, or take a picture of it with your phone.

And of course, if you have any questions Tech Force in Mt Pleasant is always here to help!