So you just got yourself a new laptop. This is especially important if you happen to be attending Full Sail as I am. You are now one of the hundreds of students lugging around the exact same model of laptop, with the exact same laptop bag.
1) DO: Customize your laptop in some way that it is readily apparent that this is YOUR laptop. Now I don’t recommend that you make permanent modifications, but stuff like stickers or laptop skins are a good bet.
2) DO, change the default administrator password. All laptops distributed are done with the default full sail password. If you do no change this, any thief can access your files quickly and easily, and any potential hacker also has an easy way in.
3) DO Back your crap up. IF you laptop gets hosed and you turn it in to be repaired, chances are they will simply re-image the drive. This has the potential to cause you to lose all your files and settings. I use and recommend http://allwaysync.com/ as a free program to keep your files synced between your laptop and desktop. If you don’t have a desktop computer, you should get an external hard disk, and keep a copy of your files on it as well.
4) DON’T Install a ton of software on the laptop. You want to keep the amount of running software as minimal as possible, as otherwise this will really kill your battery life.
5) DO Set up and use the fingerprint scanner. Seriously, that thing is just badass.