Laptops and Children: The Most Common Damage and How to Protect Both the Laptop and the Child

A laptop in a family with children lives an eventful life. By day it's used for homework and cartoons, in the evening the parents work on it, and at weekends someone plays games. Children are curious and not always careful, and we see the same "kid" breakdowns again and again. The good news: most can be prevented with simple measures, and acting correctly straight after an accident can make the repair much cheaper.

Spills

The most common and most expensive child-related breakdown. Juice, sweet tea, milk and fizzy drinks are all more dangerous than water, because they leave a sticky conductive residue and cause rapid corrosion. Children are often afraid to own up and wipe the keyboard themselves, and the laptop keeps working until, a few days later, it won't switch on.

If the laptop gets a spill: switch it off immediately, unplug the charger, turn it upside down and call a technician. Don't switch it on "to check". Explain to your child in advance that they must tell an adult straight away if they spill something and that they won't be told off — that alone will save more than one laptop.

Drops

A laptop on the edge of the table, a child tugging the charger cable, a laptop on a bed that gets pushed off — classic scenarios. The results: a cracked screen, broken hinges and case, a damaged power jack, a failed hard drive. Laptops with traditional hard drives are especially vulnerable.

The keyboard

Small children love pulling keys off, and older ones love hammering them in games. Torn-off keycaps and broken key mechanisms are a common problem. Individual keys can sometimes be restored, but on many models the parts are unique. Crumbs, plasticine and small toys turn up under the keyboard.

The screen

A pencil or toy left on the keyboard before the lid is closed, fingers pressing on the screen, a hit from a toy — all common causes of cracks and blotches on the panel. Touchscreens also suffer from scratches.

Connectors and ports

Chargers get yanked, headphones go in at an angle, and something unsuitable gets pushed into USB ports. The power jack, headphone socket and USB ports wear out and break.

Software problems

Children looking for free games, mods and cheats often install programs from dubious websites. With them come viruses, adware, cryptominers and password stealers. The laptop slows down, adverts appear, and a parent's bank or email account can be attacked. Accidental purchases in games and app stores with a linked card are a separate problem.

Protecting the laptop physically

• Use the laptop at a table, not on a bed, and keep it away from the edge.
• A "no drinks near the laptop" rule for the whole family — or a bottle with a closing lid.
• A silicone keyboard cover reduces the risk from spills and dust.
• A sturdy case for carrying and storage.
• For small children, a separate inexpensive laptop or tablet rather than a parent's work laptop.
• An external keyboard and mouse: if something gets spilled, it's a cheap keyboard that suffers, not the laptop.

Protecting the laptop and the child in software

• A separate child account without administrator rights — the child can't install programs without permission.
• Parental controls: time limits, website filtering, and control over apps and games by age rating.
• Antivirus protection and automatic system updates.
• Removing saved payment details from app stores and games, or requiring a password to confirm purchases.
• Backups of important parental documents to the cloud — in case something goes wrong.

If the damage is already done

After a spill, switch it off at once and don't switch it on. After a fall, check whether the drive is clicking and whether there are cracks in the screen or case, and if in any doubt, back up your data. With software problems, don't try to remove viruses with "cleaners" found online — they're often malicious too. Contact a specialist: early intervention is almost always cheaper.

What our technician does

1. Restores laptops after spills, drops and physical damage.
2. Replaces screens, keyboards, individual keys, connectors and hinges.
3. Removes viruses and unwanted programs and restores the system.
4. Sets up child accounts, parental controls and protection against accidental purchases.
5. Recommends protective covers, cases and inexpensive devices for children.

A real example

A family from Gldani contacted us after their five-year-old son spilled a glass of apple juice on his mother's work laptop and, frightened, said nothing. The laptop kept working for two more days, then wouldn't switch on. Inside, there was sticky juice residue under the keyboard and on the board, and corrosion had started. We cleaned the board, replaced the keyboard and recovered all her work files. We then set up a separate child account with parental controls, fitted a keyboard cover and connected an inexpensive external keyboard. His mother explained that spills must be reported straight away — and six months later, when he knocked water over the external keyboard, he called her immediately.

Call a technician

If a child has spilled something on, dropped or "broken" your laptop, we'll come to any district of Tbilisi around the clock. Learn more on our laptop repair, antivirus installation and urgent repair pages.