Even in this age of smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches, laptops hold their own and are used by students, individuals in various professions, and others alike for countless purposes. Laptops help drive a range of operations daily, but if one does not use these devices in the right way, then their overall performance and longevity are affected negatively. Thus, here are several common usage mistakes and bad habits that laptop users must avoid.

Putting laptops on padded surfaces
Laptops get heated up relatively quickly due to the number of operations users often run on their devices. These devices come with powerful processors that heat up quickly. Therefore, tech experts and mechanics often tell laptop users to “let their device breathe.” This is why placing one’s laptop on a clothed or padded surface is a bad idea. The cloth prevents the fan and exhaust ports of one’s laptop from cooling down through air exposure. This causes the residual heat of a laptop to stay within and further heat its internal components. All in all, placing one’s laptop on clothed surfaces tends to reduce the device’s battery life and overall longevity.

Constantly charging the laptop
A common sight in workplaces, houses, and classrooms these days is users keeping their laptops plugged into power supplies or power banks for 7 to 8 hours straight. Laptop overcharging is a serious problem and can damage the battery and other internal components of the device. Overcharging leads to an excessive amount of electricity being stored in a laptop at any given time. Over a period of time, laptops that are constantly overcharged tend to become weaker from a battery life perspective. Laptops that are always plugged in eventually have extremely weak batteries that cannot work without being charged.
Essentially, if people do not want the basic operations of a laptop to become heavily dependent on being plugged into a power source, then they need to charge their laptops for limited periods.

Eating in front of the laptop
Tech professionals and healthcare experts often advise people against eating in front of their laptops. Eating in front of or above the laptop is likely to make people drop bread crumbs and other food debris directly on the keyboard, the trackpad, the display, and other surfaces of their laptops. Eventually, these particles may seep in between the keys or into the ports of the laptops and disrupt their working or cause other kinds of internal damage.
Therefore, one must always shut their laptops and place them at a distance before eating or drinking.

Not backing up the laptop regularly
Laptops often contain sensitive information. Therefore, it is wise to back up all the key details and documents one has on their laptop. The data could be backed up on cloud servers or other devices. So, even in cases where someone’s laptop has been lost, stolen, or accidentally wiped clear, people will be able to find their data on their alternate source or device.

Apart from these mistakes, some of the other mistakes include keeping too many apps open in the background, not storing laptops in proper spaces, and letting the laptop go out of power too often, among others.