CrexTechs Blog

Laptops are great--you can take them anywhere and work for hours untethered to a plug, well, at least for the first few months.  Then, it seems, the battery does not last as long until you really don't have any battery life at all.  This can happen within the first year.

Why is this?

All rechargeable batteries lose some of their capacity over time. I can run my cordless drill for what seems like hours, drilling holes and sinking screws.  When it runs down, I switch out the battery and put the old one in the charger.  I have never run the recharging capability out of these batteries, though I'm sure it's possible.  So why do laptop batteries run down and out so fast?

How you use and charge your battery can have a lot to do with how long your battery lasts.   My cordless drill charger shuts off when the battery is charged up so there is never a chance the battery will get over-charged but the heat produced by the charger by being plugged in can reduce the life of the battery. Keeping your laptop plugged in twenty-four hours a day produces heat which will reduce the life of the battery.

Use it or lose it, is the rule of thumb with laptop batteries.  Use your battery daily, even to the point of running it down (at least once a month).   Plug in only when you need to.  Do not leave your laptop on when not in use.  It is also advisable to unplug when not using your laptop.  (Note: Li-Ion batteries should never be run completely out but the automatic shut-off will keep this from happening).

If you don't use your laptop for stretches of time, it is advisable to run the battery down to 40%, take the battery out and store it in a cool dry place.   Some also advise that if you are going to be plugged in for extended periods of time, remove the battery.

To get more hours out of a charge, reduce the brightness of your screen and shut off any peripherals or WiFi if not in use.

Do not leave your laptop anywhere hot like the back seat or trunk of the car on a summer or sunny day.  Heat is the real killer of rechargeable batteries.

Laptops come with their own meter to let you know how much charge in left in your batter.  Based on this meter, your laptop will warn you, then turn itself off when it thinks the battery is drained.  However, this built in meter may not be giving you an accurate reading.  You can download a free meter to check the accuracy of your built in meter.

To download a free meter:

http://download.cnet.com/BatteryBar/3000-2094_4-10866804.html

You can also re-calibrate your laptop's meter.  Check your laptop instructions or search online for instructions on re-calibrating the meter for you particular laptop.

If you are like me, you love the funny and cute emails and videos that come in from family and friends.  I forward only the best of these and only to a few family and friends who I know will appreciate them.  I am pretty careful when it comes to political content.  I don't want to offend anyone or appear preachy.

And I never, never, never send any emails to everyone on my contacts list.  Some of these contacts are work or business related, some are family and friends, and some are club and activity related acquaintances.  Not all of these people are interested in receiving tidbits that I find interesting.  Some may even find it bothersome or annoying to receive such emails from someone they barely know.

But I am guilty of a different kind of breach of etiquette.  I am guilty of putting all of the addresses in the To: space even though I know better.

I know I don't like having to scroll through a huge list of all the addresses an email has been sent to.  And,  I  would prefer that my email address not be sent all over the world on emails forwarded from others as well.

What I should be doing when I forward emails to more than one person is Blind Copy or BCC the recipients so their email address does not appear on the email received by others I am forwarding to.

When I forward an email that contains the addresses of others, I select and delete the portion of the email that shows who sent it to me and all the other senders and recipients of the email.  I only send the important part which is the cute pictures or funny stories.

And here is an important security consideration:  intercepted email with lots of addresses is a great source for spammers to harvest known email addresses.  We all get enough SPAM as it is; lets not help the spammers.

To send a blind copy you will probably  have to find the BCC icon or link.  Click on it to open the input field. Input the recipient addresses from your contact list as usual. If you are required to put an address in the To: space, use your own address.

Check out how this is done in the August 10 issue of VipreSecurityNews.   Scroll down to How to BCC.  And enjoy the insights this issue has to offer.

And remember, be careful when you are receiving forwarded email.  Some of them could contain viruses or other malware. Especially be careful if there is only a link and no message from your friend.  This could be a setup for hackers to gain access to your computer.

There is an exceptionally pernicious bit a malware that has been going around.  It will redirect your web searches to certain websites or to download other malicious ware.   If you  have been having trouble with redirecting of your searches and are pretty handy with a computer, check out the following forum exchange.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Windows-7-3996/2011/5/virus-hiding-other-partitions.htm

If you are not so handy, bring in your machine.

There are plenty of other "fun" viruses out there that will hide your files and your operating system.  Don't hesitate to call on us for help.  In this ever challenging environment of rampant malware, it seems we are spending an ever increasing amount of time cleaning up machines.

Anti-virus/anti-malware software can do only so much to keep us protected when we opt to open files and visit sites that are portals for the hackers.  Even when being personally vigilant about where we go and what we click on on-line, there are still so many ways to get hacked.

Good luck out there!