Our devices are significant investments. You need to treat your tech well to get your money’s worth. Regular maintenance is one way to stay ahead of the game. Tap or click for six checkups to avoid a hefty repair bill.
Based on calls to my show, emails and questions posted on my website’s tech support forum, here are five common mistakes that could cost you.
Do you keep your phone plugged in all the time? Apple says that when your iPhone “remain(s) at full charge for prolonged periods of time, battery health can be affected.”
Android phone manufacturers, including Samsung, say the same. “Do not leave your phone connected to the charger for long periods of time or overnight.” Huawei says, “Keeping your battery level as close to the middle (30% to 70%) as possible can effectively prolong the battery life.”
The official word is to keep your phone charged — but not fully charged. Get in the habit of unplugging your tech after it is fully charged.
More tech smarts: Tap or click for tricks to keep your phone battery in tip-top shape.
Laptop batteries have a finite number of charge-discharge cycles. If you frequently let your battery entirely run out of juice, it affects the charge-discharge cycle and diminishes its intended lifespan.
Your laptop battery can also lose efficiency in another way. Let’s say you regularly charge your laptop from 30% to 50%, or about 20% each time. Well, do that five times and you’ll have completed one battery cycle because you’ve charged your laptop 100% in total.
A good rule of thumb is to keep your battery charged to at least 40% most of the time. Tap or click here to check your laptop’s battery health.
It’s nuts how cheap you can get a smart TV these days. Let me rephrase: It’s nuts how much of our data we’re willing to hand over for a cheap TV.
Alas, you still want yours to last. That means you need to do a lot more than dust the screen now and then.
🖨️ Clever printer hack: Dust can cause unexpected problems with your printer. Open the paper trays, remove any paper and use a handheld vac to suck up the dust. You can also blow it out with compressed air (43% off).
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
When you think of electronics and dust, what comes to mind? Yep, a good old can of compressed air. But here’s the problem: It runs out so fast. Before you know it, you’re halfway through getting the crumbs out of your keyboard and the can is empty.
In the consumer tech world, there’s always something new to buy. Want to know a secret? Many upgrades aren’t worth your money and time.
That 8K TV? Not necessary until there’s more supported content. Expensive HDMI cables? The gold plating looks nice, but the cheap ones do the same job.
Trust me, it’s dusty: Your laptop and desktop gather dust just like everything else. Do yourself (and your wallet) a favor and blow out all the junk. Compressed air (whoa, 47% off) gets the job done, but I prefer a reusable air duster (54% off!).
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
📺 Your remote is dirtier than your toilet: Remove the batteries and blast it with compressed air if you have it, then clean it with a disinfectant wipe. Cotton swabs and toothpicks are great for removing stubborn gunk. Remember: Don’t put the batteries back in until it’s fully dry.
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
Hot take: Compressed air isn’t worth the money. The cans run out so fast! I like this high-powered blower instead.
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
If you watch the news, you’ve probably seen a story or two about a laptop overheating and starting a fire. While overheating leading to a fire is incredibly rare, it does happen now and then. Are you having other issues with your PC? Tap or click here to fix common Windows problems.
If you haven’t taken a close look at your keyboard and mouse lately, you probably should. These two main components of your computer get grimy pretty quickly. This comes as no surprise since they are continually used and touched by human hands each day.
Our electronic devices are used almost daily, meaning they can get downright nasty. Our screens get smudged, our keyboards collect dust and that dry cloth we use to wipe things down doesn’t seem to have much effect.
Knowing how to clean our tech is one of the many ways we can control the spread of germs in our homes. And right now, knowing how to sanitize things should be a top priority.
