By Sandra Quinn

As the summer truly takes hold, temperatures are soaring, summer is really starting to sizzle and the urge to work outside is stronger than ever.

However, unless working outside entails bringing a paper and pen, perhaps it’s not the best idea for your personal devices.

In theory, grabbing a blanket, a pitcher of iced water and your laptop to go outside for an afternoon of working in the sunshine, seems like a great idea, but the reality is that after a few minutes, you’ll be sweating, your ice will be melted and the computer will start to overheat.

All laptops are equipped with an inbuilt cooling system and without this, your laptop just would not work.

If you’re thinking that you can still just take your chances and that you can cool your computer down afterwards, keep in mind that if your computer becomes too hot, it could ruin hardware inside the computer, causing irreparable damage and this might also cause you to lose data.

When overheated, your computer will also run slower.

If your computer has started to overheat, the first thing you need to do is shut it down and give it time to cool down.

Likewise, when the temperatures rise, you’ve probably noticed your smartphone seems to be a magnet for the sun and heats up pretty quickly.

In many ways, modern mobile devices are like miniature computers and so will face many of the issues listed above.

If your phone gets too hot it will start to drain the battery, may be forced to shut down and could fail completely.

Try to avoid getting direct sunlight onto your phone, as it catches light and heat and retains them.

Switch off any unused apps and make sure that there aren’t any programmes running silently in the background.

Turning the airplane mode on will also save battery life, and is great if you are taking a lot of videos or recording audio, as text messages and calls will not come in and interrupt your recordings.

If your phone is already overheating, take off the case if there is one on it, shut it down and put it in a cool place.

The moral of the story here is to enjoy the sunshine, but don’t let your laptop, smartphone or other devices soak up the rays if you want them to last into the winter.