Thinking of Spring Cleaning? Include Your Computer!
March — and Spring — are right around the corner. And we all know what that means: Spring Cleaning. But have you ever thought of including your computer in your Spring Cleaning plans?
If you’re like us, you’re always busy — and one of the consequences of rushing from one project to another across several applications is the constantly growing number of folders on your computer’s desktop, many of which you haven’t even looked at in ages.
Granted, there never seems to be a good time to drop everything else we’re doing to clean out our computers. There’s just so much work to do — and unlike our closets, computers seem to have an unlimited amount of space. It’s easier to justify putting off cleaning up and organizing our computers because, after all, it’s not like we have to worry about last year’s gym gear falling down on us when we boot them up.
However, just like cleaning out our closets helps us find that great outfit we forgot about, cleaning and organizing our computers can help us become much more efficient and organized — and we might even find that amazing idea we filed away “for later” and forgot about entirely. Not only that, but taking the time to do an annual spring clean of your computer can help your machine run much more smoothly.
Last year we found a good article in Tech Times to help us all “spring clean” our computers as quickly and efficiently as possible. Here are the highlights, which still hold true today:
- Make A List, Check It Twice —
Set aside some time to go over all your files in every usable drive and list them down for easier mapping. The list will function both as a map for you and as a way to determine if you have multiple copies of a file, in which case, it is best to delete the unnecessary duplicates or back them up in an external hard drive or cloud storage account. - Folders Are Your Friends —
Create folders and sub-folders that will give you an immediate idea of where your files could be located. - Let It Go —
Empty your trash bin. - Aim For A Deeper Clean —
Delete the browser history, cache, cookies, broken or leftover items in your system registry, and other things that you may or may not have known exist in your computer. - Defragment Your System —
The process of defragmentation is in itself the computer’s way of spring cleaning its system and organizing its files – as if stacking them neatly. - Install Updates —
This is important because there are some critical updates that can reinforce your system’s protection.
Now, let’s all get cleaning! Have any additional tips for cleaning your computer? Let us know -we’re always looking for helpful ideas.
