As for location, least expensive extended warranties require you to ship your laptop (at your expense) to a remote repair facility. With most deluxe extended warranty packages, a service technician will meet you at your own front door to attempt repairs. This type of coverage tends to be on expensive side.

At this point, you might decide to research manufacturer websites to determine their standard warranty policies. Don’t bother, because most laptop manufacturers don’t have standard warranty polices. Warranties vary from line to line and product to product. Even with a particular model in mind, it’s still going to take some digging.

So how do you decide whether an extended warranty is right for you? Your best bet is to consider your anticipated usage:

If you’re buying a laptop as a second computer for occasional use when you need to travel, you can probably pass on extended warranty and still feel relatively safe.

At other extreme, if you use your laptop day in and day out as your primary system, with half your life spent in airport terminals, you should consider adding as much extended warranty as you possibly can. Fortunately, unlike automobile warranties, laptop warranties don’t put any restriction on mileage.

If you are not certain of how to use these utilities and being that steps to execute these programs varies slightly from one operating system to other it would be easiest to simply use “Help” option that can be found by clicking on START button found on your computers desktop.

The START menu will open up a drop-down-box that should display “Help” option. By going here you can enter keywords that deal with answers to subject you are searching for.

*Run your computers “Disk Cleanup” utility every other week or so. If set “Disk Cleanup” utility will automatically empty recycling bin and recover some wasted disk space by removing internet temporary files that seem to always accumulate.

Again, use “Help” option if you are uncertain of how to perform this task.

*Never smoke near a computer because cooling fans will pull smoke into case where it can coat inside parts of computer with a residue which in turn can damage sensitive components.

*Place computer case in an area where it will not be accidentally kicked or bumped to prevent loosening of cables and damage to internal parts.

*Invest in a high quality surge protector to provide your computer and monitor against voltage spikes or “surges” that can dramatically shorten life of your system. Just like most items in a store, “You get what you pay for”. So don’t skimp out on this important device!

Its also not a bad idea to invest in a surge protector that includes what is called a “Data Line Protector” which allows you to connect your telephone lines to and serves same purpose for telephone line to your modem just like surge protector does for electrical household current lines.

*Finally, if you plan on being away from home for more that a few days at a time or if there is a thunderstorm brewing in your area it is a very wise decision to always unplug all electrical lines and modem telephone lines from your system. Even with a surge protector installed it is possible that such a large voltage spike such as one caused by a lightening strike could prove fatal to any computer system.

If you follow these simple steps outcome is a healthy computer that will stay by your side and treat you well which also results in a happier you.