Tuesday Tip: Label Power Cables And Never Unplug The Wrong Thing Again

It isn’t uncommon for me to have three nearly identical power cables plugged in to my surge protector—my iMac, MacBook Air, and iPad all have the light gray, standard-issue Apple three-prong power plugs, and I’ve unplugged the wrong thing on more than one occasion. To prevent this from happening again, I recently enlisted the help of a permanent marker.

Grab your favorite permanent marker—in my case, a Sharpie fine-point marker—and write a description of that power cable on the power plug’s rubber housing. In my case, I wrote “iMac” for my iMac, “iPad” for my iPad, and “MBA” for my MacBook Air.

If you’re feeling more creative, you could draw a small symbol for each device, or even color-code them. Find an approach that works for you, and never again unplug your iMac when you meant to unplug your MacBook.

Nick spends way too much time in front of a computer, so he figures he may as well write about it. He's previously written for IDG's PCWorld and TechHive.