During spring cleaning don’t forget about your computer and
other digital devices. Take the time to clean
up and organize your digital workspace as it is as important to your
productivity and well-being as your physical workspace.
Start with cleaning up your Desktop. The Desktop can become
a catchall for all those miscellaneous files; the dining room table of your
computer that collects odds and ends files. Other common area are the My
Documents and My Pictures folders. Apply the age-old rule, “if you haven’t worn it in 2 years, toss
it” to your digital space too. Get rid of all the programs and apps that you no
longer use. Consider downloading a disk utility such as CleanMyMac, CleanMyPC,
Disk Inventory, or Disk Space Fan to clean up system files and analyze space
usage.
Organize Photos: Clean up photo files and organize them according
to your folder system. Keep originals and delete duplicates. Tag your photos to
easily search them later. You could also get them printed for display or share
them with family.
Organize Music: Go through your music and reorganize. Fill
in missing album artwork. You could also transfer them to an external hard
drive or burn to an archival CD.
Fire up your browser and clean out those bookmarks. Delete
everything you don’t want and organize the rest into folders. Clear your
browser’s cache, temporary internet files, and the downloads folder.
Don’t forget your e-mail inboxes! Depending on how much
e-mail you’ve accumulated, this may take a while to sort through. Unsubscribe
from all those mailing lists you don’t know how you got on. Better yet, setup
multiple accounts: a personal account, one dedicated to banking and
finances, and a “throwaway” address to use for signing up for services, social media,
and online purchases.
Consider integrating your digital life with the Cloud. Move
to-do lists and other resources online where other family members can access
them. There are a wide variety of online management tools and programs that
sync across devices depending on your family’s needs.
Empty that recycle bin and watch your free space increase. Use
a screen cleaner and lens cloth to wipe down your displays, clean your
keyboard, and give your computer and devices an overall cleaning.
Spring Cleaning doesn’t have to be just about cleaning and
organizing. For your effort, give your computer and devices a little facelift
with a fresh new wallpaper, new folder icons, or download some new music.
As with all cleaning and organizing, you have to build and maintain
good habits or else the digital clutter will come right back
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