Don’t Man-Handle a Laptop: Please Be Gentle - Page 2

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• 1 - Pat Fish

  Mar 03, 2006 at 7:59 pm

  I have killed three laptops in the last two years.
  
  The keyboards can't handle my pounding.
  

• 2 - SF

  Mar 03, 2006 at 10:25 pm

  I don't understand why you can't put your computer into hibernation...the harddrive still gets turned off right?
  
  Well, i do agree that backups are extremely important...

• 3 - Dave Nalle

  Mar 03, 2006 at 10:30 pm

  I know from personal experience that they need to make laptops more durable. They need to have carrying handles and be made out of stamped stainless steel with rubber gaskets around the keys and mousepad. Panasonic used to make a great indestructible, waterproof cellphone. I dropped it in a fish pond once and it survived full immersion. They need to make laptops like that.
  
  Dave

• 4 - mark

  Mar 03, 2006 at 11:00 pm

  Great tips! I've had HD problems before, but I guess it's either that my gateway laptop now sucks or its b/c I dropped it once from waist-high - nothing broke though, just some minor dents.

• 5 - JELIEL³

  Mar 03, 2006 at 11:02 pm

  Dave Nalle (#3)
  
  And Panasonic does. They called it the toughbook. Excatly as you described. I dropped-tested one from six feet high and still worked, so we purchased 2 for the team leads at the sites. One came back with the entire back panel ripped out. The guys at Panasonic told me that even the military don't return them this damaged.

• 6 - Mitch

  Mar 03, 2006 at 11:31 pm

  Well, most of that stuff was self explanitory and rather obvious to me. And the funny thing is, I see people doing it ALL the time, 2 laptops got stolen at my school in a week because people don't look after their shit. People sometimes think that it's a toy, makes me want to kick'em in the face... *sigh*. Oh well... good post though.

• 7 - I'mAcookieSoEatMe

  Mar 04, 2006 at 5:30 am

  "I don't understand why you can't put your computer into hibernation...the harddrive still gets turned off right?"
  
  I was about to ask the same question. My computer seems to turn off its hard disk during hibernation (And I assume that it stores the current state into an image, but I could be wrong). So, am I (wrong)?

• 8 - Yakumo

  Mar 04, 2006 at 6:30 am

  Either the author doesn't know what hibernation is, was tired writing and meant standby, or perhaps just couldn't be bothered to write out the long version perhaps warning people to save anytihng important before putting it into hibernation, as anything that is stored in the hibernate file could loose any changes since the previous save, if the hibernation file becomes corrupt somehow (probably only slightly more likely than your orriginal document becoming corrupt on disk as you transport your machine, as your orriginals likely raher small, and your hibernate file is the same size as the total system ram on your machine)
  
  Your computer fully shuts down when hibernating, it just writes out all the ram contents to a file first, and then loads it back up when you next switch on.

• 9 - Yakumo

  Mar 04, 2006 at 6:32 am

  I forgot to add that if the hibernate file is corrupt at next boot for any reason, you can just boot the machine as normal, cleanly, without hibernation data, just as if you had turned the machine off normally previously.

• 10 - Elvira Black

  Mar 04, 2006 at 9:19 am

  Jeliel:
  
  Thanks for the great piece. I adore Herman, my Mac Powerbook, but I think I need to take a bit better care of him. He's getting awfully dirty and needs a good sponge bath (or the laptop equivalent). Unfortunately, the more I revere Herman, the more my Luddite boyfriend refers to him as "that stupid toy." He's just jealous because Herman can do so many things no mortal man can.
  
  I'd say more but I don't want to sound even more demented. Let's just say your piece was a good reminder not to take our wondrous technology for granted.
  

• 11 - JELIEL

  Mar 04, 2006 at 9:25 am

  Yes it does. But the computer literate get this, DFUs don't. Sometimes they can barely find the start button. My rule is to SHUTDOWN, no explanation to the client, just do it. Keep it as simple as bloody possible for them. Like the lambs to the slaughter. Never under estimate a users stupidity. ASsume hey know nothing.
  
  "but I put it in hibernation"
  
  "No you didn't, you put it in sleep mode."
  
  I have these slapp my forehead moments on a daily basis.

• 12 - Eric Olsen

  Mar 04, 2006 at 12:35 pm

  super job J, thanks!

• 13 - JELIEL

  Mar 04, 2006 at 1:08 pm

  Thanks Eric

• 14 - Geowrian

  Mar 04, 2006 at 4:10 pm

  I do tech support as well and people wil break every one of these guidelines multiple times. THe only thing I want to add is that hibernation turns the computer off, thus saving battery and stops the hard drive. When the hard drive stops, it locks the heads so they don't go flying around everytime you shake the laptop while moving it (which would obviously damage it). Great post, but I think it would have helped a lot to explain why hibernation (or just turning it off) is needed when moving the laptop around.

• 15 - JELIEL³

  Mar 04, 2006 at 6:13 pm

  Yes I know, everybody is nitpicking this point. The thing is that most users can't even identify what that spinny thing is between the 2 mouse buttons.
  
  Just like everytime I come into a clients office and his certificates of attendance to the latest word or excel class is pridefuly displayed to all, it only means I got me a know-it-all that knows nothing.
  
  They press the crescent moon button and think that sleep mode is the same as hibernation.

• 16 - Scott Butki

  Mar 04, 2006 at 8:14 pm

  Here's my question - how long is it ok to have the laptop on? Does it need to be shut off and have time off or time spent hibernating or sleeping?
  I run screensaver programs like SETI - or now the fighting aids one - and so I'd like my computer on but don't want it to get all old and die fast because I keep it on too much.
  
  If it's a dumb question let me just add that I have never put coffee on my laptop though I have used a laptop computer while driving.
  
  

• 17 - JELIEL³

  Mar 04, 2006 at 9:15 pm

  Depends on the battery technology. The newer ones still charge the battery while running. But eventualy a battery just stops charging and it dies.
  
  But the keep it on, turn it off debate is far from over. Personaly I believe a computer should get some down time and cool off. These are miniturised components and they don't cool down as well as large scale components of servers (And they're cheaper also) Plus the windows client isn't well known for staying stable after long periods of uptime (If your OS is windows of course)
  
  Another call that techs get often is the slow computer. Often we check for windows uptimes and we'll find that it's been up for way to long. My record is over 400 days on a corporate desktop. I had the client reboot her desktop and she said it was like having a brand new one. *sigh*
  
  The only foolish question is the unasked one.

• 18 - Scott Butki

  Mar 04, 2006 at 11:40 pm

  Oh that brings up another question - how often should it be restarted? I tend to restart it once a day but that's a holdover routine from when I was on dialup and the best way to disconnect was to reboot.
  
  Thanks for the answer and explanation on the other question.
  
  400 days!?
  
  

• 19 - JELIEL³

  Mar 04, 2006 at 11:48 pm

  Well it depends. But I recommend my clients reboot their computers at least once a week, like on fridays before leaving. Leave it off if they can unless updates and upgrades have been announced.
  
  95% of all computer problems are resolved by a reboot. It's the first thing I do when I debug a computer.

• 20 - Victor Plenty

  Mar 05, 2006 at 8:32 pm

  Good underlying content here. The depths of your suffering and your experience with the subject are clear.
  
  The only major weakness in this piece is the common mistake found in far too much instructional and motivational writing: phrasing all the advice in terms of what NOT to do. This may work as humor, but it weakens the usefulness of the good advice. It would be more likely to help the target audience change their behaviors if phrased in terms of what they actually can do to make their lives better (in this case, at least that little part of their lives spent interacting with laptops).
  
  Many might say people are capable of understanding the "do this" statements hidden as the opposites of the "dont" statements you have actually written. It's true, most people are perfectly capable of understanding this if they concentrate and take some time. Unfortunately when readers rapidly skim an advice piece like this, the brain often fails to process the instructions at that level of complexity. When that happens, very few readers will change their patterns of action after reading the advice.
  
  You show a clear understanding of this principle of simplicity in your discussion of hibernation, sleep mode, and switching off the power. Too many people won't bother to understand the difference between hibernation and sleep mode. You have learned from experience that telling them to turn off the computer actually works, because that act is simple enough for the brain to understand easily, even without concentrated analysis. People who develop this habit will do it right every time, because of its simplicity. That's all I'm talking about.
  
  Anyway, enough about that. At least you didn't use that other all too common humor mode of satirical advice, where every point is phrased as a "do this" statement which is really the worst advice anyone could give.

• 21 - JELIEL³

  Mar 05, 2006 at 9:06 pm

  You have to be a cynic to work in IT.
  
  The best teachers in contemplative thinking and philosophy often use "negatives", such as no-mind, no-self and so forth. It's simply a limitation of language to express what can only be said in no-language.
  
  Telling you what you can do would take too long. Demonstrating the limitations takes less time. Such as speed limit signs, no parking signs, no smoking signs, etc. You go to the park and you don't see signs that tell you that you can walk, run, jump around, bike around, have a picnic, etc. You see the no litter signs, the no dog signs.

• 22 - Victor Plenty

  Mar 05, 2006 at 10:01 pm

  Apparently I wasn't specific enough in my advice either. I'm not saying you should change all your points to make different points about what people are allowed to do. ("You can edit documents with your laptop!") I'm saying you would do better to phrase your points with more straightforward wording.
  
  The difference I'm pointing out is not between positive and negative, not between cynic and optimist. The difference is between effective and ineffective advice. Contemplative thinking and philosophy is lost on the kind of mind that will spill coffee on a laptop three times because of the same idiotic mistake.
  
  For the distracted minds of most people using laptops for office work, you need simpler phrasing of what you are telling them.
  
  This is particularly true in your later points when the word "don't" is far away back near the beginning of your article. Your reader's brain will forget about the don't by the time they read "...leave your laptop un-padlocked on the desk." The distracted brain of a business drone who's thinking about how to make it to the next meeting on time is not going to connect that ... to the don't back at the top of piece. The distracted brain will absorb the don't statement as if it were a do statement.
  
  When that happens, the person's actions do not change, and your IT job does not get any easier. You'd have a higher chance of changing their actions with simpler and more direct instructions:
  
  "secure your laptop before leaving the office."
  
  "leave your laptop behind at the hotel when you go to the beach"
  
  "keep your laptop out of direct sunlight"
  
  "keep your mug warmer as far away from your laptop as possible"
  
  and so on.
  
  Everything else about your article is great.

• 23 - JELIEL³

  Mar 05, 2006 at 11:18 pm

  Thanks and I got the point. But put simply it just wouldn't be as fun to just make a to do list. Abrasivness and sarcasm makes it more fun and you gotta have fun. It wasn't meant as instructions, more as a kick in the ass slap-the-back-of-the-head thing.
  
  

  "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning". - Rich Cook

• 24 - Victor Plenty

  Mar 06, 2006 at 4:47 am

  There's nothing wrong with including the sarcastical satirical don't statements along with the do statements. All I'm saying is that your advice becomes less effective when the don'ts are allowed to dominate.
  
  It's one thing to have fun. It's another thing altogether to shoot yourself in the foot just for the fun of it.

• 25 - JELIEL³

  Mar 06, 2006 at 8:59 am

  Dude if someone can't keep the word DONT in resident memory, they hsouldn't be reading BC ;-)