Take care of your laptop and your laptop will take care of you. Performing some routine maintenance tasks on your laptop will help ensure that you don't have a disaster.
Here's a proposed maintenance schedule to keep you and your laptop happy.
Weekly
Keep your anti-virus software up-to-date
You should update your Symantec AntiVirus software weekly. On Kellogg Laptop Program ThinkPad T41, T43, T60, and T60p laptops, this is done automatically. If you want to manually update your Symantec AntiVirus software, double click on the icon in the system tray (  ) and select "LiveUpdate".
On KLP ThinkPad T23 and T40 laptops, you will need to manually update Symantec. T o update Symantec, just click the AntiVirus icon next to the Start menu, click Next, then Finish.
- On the KLP IBM ThinkPad T40, the Symantec AntiVirus icon looks like this:
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- On the KLP IBM ThinkPad T23, the Norton AntiVirus icon looks like this:
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Monthly
Back up your computer
You should regularly back up school projects and important documents to CD or DVD using the CD burner included with your laptop (the KLP T60 and T60p laptops come with a DVD burner).
Stop by the Technial Support Center in Jacobs Center room 163 if you need a blank CD. If you need You can buy blank CDs at Radio Shack or CVS in downtown Evanston, or from electronics retailers like Best Buy and CompUSA.
Having copies of important files backed up to places other than your hard drive is critical, because your hard drive can fail with little or no warning. You could spill a drink on your laptop and short out the hard drive's circuitry. You could drop your laptop—even from just a short height—and damage the hard drive. Or, the hard drive could simply experience a mechanical failure. Hard drive failure has been the second most common hardware failure on the ThinkPad T41/T43/T60 laptops.
Most students saw us before their hard drive failed completely and we were able to save their data. Some, however, lost all of their data. Don't let it happen to you.
Quarterly
Change your password
You need to change your password every 120 days. You'll get plenty of reminders before your 120 days are up, but if you don't change it before time's up, your account will be locked. You won't be able to check e-mail, log into the network, or use any of the password protected parts of the Kellogg web site.
If your password expires over the weekend or while you're out of town, it could take a few days to reactivate your account. So, don't ignore those reminder messages.
As Needed
Clean your computer
After a few months of constant use and countless trips between home and campus, your ThinkPad will get dirty. IBM has some cleaning tips:
- Use a soft lint-free cloth moistened with non-alkaline detergent to wipe the exterior of the computer.
- Don't spray cleaner directly on the display or keyboard.
- Gently wipe the LCD with a dry, soft lint-free cloth. If a stain remains, moisten the cloth with LCD cleaner and wipe the stain again. Be sure to dry the LCD before closing it.
NOTE: A 50-50 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water or water alone may be used as a LCD cleaner to moisten your cloth. Antistatic LCD cleaning cloths and Kim Wipes are also acceptable alternatives.
DANGER:
Isopropyl Alcohol is a flammable liquid. Do not use this cleaner near an exposed flame or when the system is on.
Replace TrackPoint cap
If your TrackPoint cap (the red mouse pointer in the middle of the keyboard) gets dirty, you can replace it. Two spare TrackPoint caps were included with your laptop. If you have lost these or need replacements, you can order replacements from CDW. See our parts ordering page for details: ThinkPad T60p parts | ThinkPad T60 parts | ThinkPad T43 parts | ThinkPad T41 parts
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