Batteries do not last forever, but there are steps you can take to prolong their life. Taking the best care of your battery may be a hassle, so consider the trade offs.
If you are at home and using your laptop plugged in (to power, not your internet router), shut down the computer and REMOVE the battery.
For the absolute best results, never charge it past 80 percent or let it drop below 20 percent. When you’re working on AC power, keep an eye on the battery’s charging. When it hits or passes 80 percent, shut down your computer, remove the battery, then reboot. When it’s time to take the laptop on the road, shut it down again and reinsert the battery.
When you’re using the laptop on battery power, shut it down before the battery drops below 20 percent, and don’t start it up again until you have AC power.
Apps
Fleksy – cost:$.99 –Fleksy will not only add a refreshing new look to your type pad, but it will help you type faster than ever too. In addition to swipe typing and gesture shortcuts to add punctuation or special characters, Fleksy’s deck is also resizable to give you more screen space while you type. The keyboard’s next-word prediction and autocorrect engines are so accurate that you can even type without looking at the screen – your gibberish will be intuitively fixed.
CamDictionary – cost:$4.99 – This app allows you to translate between 16 languages by simply hovering your device’s camera over text. CamDictionary also supports text-to-speech translating, and packs multiple Collins dictionaries so you can study Chinese, Japanese, German, Russian and more.
GateGuru – cost:Free – Navigate airports, anticipate wait times, find the best food and travel with greater confidence with this free app.
Tip of the month
Signs that your computer may have malware
Malware IS different than a virus. Many malware producers don’t want you to realize that you have it because they want to work in the background to allow other unwanted programs to come aboard. If you know what to look for, you can recognize a symptom that MIGHT be caused by malware.
Sudden poor performance on the computer
Standard maintenance programs don’t work – Check Task Manager, your antivirus program, Windows update, etc… to see if they can run
New, unwanted tool bars are in your browser and you can’t get rid of them
Your home page or search engine in your browser has changed