Beware! Fire Caused by Laptop

When I first heard of a similar story, I thought it was a hoax. But when news like this circulates on a widely-referenced website such as Yahoo, I thought this is something serious and the public has to be made aware.

A report of a man who died in fire caused by a laptop was one of the news on Yahoo World this week. According to the report, the man fell asleep while working on his laptop. It was also said that he was listening through music connected to the equipment. Police believed that the laptop was being charged and a problem occurred when the switchboard positioned too close to the bed let it out a spark which set the bed on fire. Police though, are not ruling out the possibility of a foul play.

Whether the reports are true or not, it won't hurt to take some precautions and be extra careful in handling one of the most indispensable products of modern technology, laptops.

Below are some tips to avoid accidents caused by mishandled laptops.

1. Store in places with normal temperature. Never leave your laptop in the parked closed car, if the weather is hot, and do not leave it in direct sun light. Excessive heat can damage the components of a laptop.

2. Avoid excessive humidity.  Regardless of the reason for the humidity, you should do your best to protect your laptop from humidity. This can cause damage to the motherboard as well as possible damage to the screen.

3. Do not place laptop on a soft surface, while working. Laptops placed not on solid flat surface, are inclined to absorb heat very quick, so you might experience computer overheating pretty fast. It is definitely higher danger to drop it as well…

4. Check the fan. If your fan is not working correctly you could experience some huge problems with your laptop overheating, which can cause troubles with your monitor, memory or even the hard drive. To avoid this problem you need to make sure that the fan is working properly. If you are unsure whether the fan is working properly check the website for the laptop manufacturer, you can frequently find software there to use for testing purposes.

5. Treat the battery properly. For the first time, the laptop battery should be charged completely, before you use the computer. Experts say that you need to charge and discharge the battery completely three times in the row for better battery performance and longer lifetime. You should do the same for the laptop, which was not used for month or longer. If you do not plan to use your laptop for long time, remove the battery from the laptop and store it separately.

6. Turn your laptop off before going to sleep.

Laptops have somewhat given us great powers to do great things. To borrow a line from my favorite super hero, "With great power comes great responsibility." Responsibility in a lot of sense can save lives. Who knows the next life you will save might be your own.