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Laptop Tips

Regular Maintenance Tips

Please never hesitate to contact your tech department at helpdesk@pembrokek12.org if you have a question or issue with your laptop.  However, performing the regular maintenance steps below on your own can prevent issues and can be quick fixes for minor issues.

Every Day - Close Apps and Internet Tabs You Are Not Using!

Keeping multiple desktop apps or dozens of internet tabs open at all times will seriously affect the processing speed of your computer.  Instead, try using Chrome Bookmarks to organize your most frequently used tabs. Click this link for tips: Chrome Bookmarks

Monday-Thursday

At the end of each day, Monday-Thursday, sign out of your laptop. Your laptop will start up more quickly in the morning than if you shut down. 

Steps: Click the Windows button at the lower left corner of your screen, click your person icon on the left, and then click sign out.  

Friday

At the end of the day Friday shut down your computer following the steps below - never hold the power button to shut down.  Shutting down your computer properly at least once a week is recommended for regular maintenance.  This will keep your computer running smoothly by clearing the memory, stopping tasks that are using up your RAM, and it can fix peripheral and hardware issues.  Even if you close an app, it can still be accessing memory and slowing your computer down.  Shutting down once a week is important!

Steps: Click the Windows icon at the lower left corner of your screen, click the power icon, and then click Shut Down.

Monthly: Clear Internet Browser History (Chrome)

Clearing your browser history about once a month can help tremendously with the speed of your internet browser.  Clearing history will remove temporary files and cached content that takes up memory on your computer.  

Steps:

  1. On your computer, open Chrome.
  2. At the top right, click the three vertical dots .
  3. Click History > History.
  4. On the left, click Clear browsing data. A box will appear.
  5. From the drop-down menu, select  All time.
  6. Click Clear data.

Correct Speed or Other Unusual Issues

Restart! - Yes, really.  This is everyone's least favorite answer from the tech department, but we will almost always ask you if you have tried restarting your computer.  There are very good reasons for this. Restarting will get your computer running more smoothly by clearing the memory, stopping tasks that are using up your RAM, and can fix other peripheral and hardware issues.  If you continue to have issues after restarting, email helpdesk@pembrokek12.org and a member of the tech team will come help.

Steps: To restart your computer, click the Windows icon at the lower left corner of your computer, click the power icon, and then click Restart.