Being organized does not always mean being disciplined, finishing your work on time, or meeting hard-core expectations. It’s way above and beyond that and sometimes related to the everyday tasks that we do for ourselves. A clean device is one among them.
Nothing can give you more happiness than the feeling of a decluttered digital space. You know where to head on your computer to get a particular file that you need now.
Why Do You Need to Clean Your Computer?
The short and straight answer is – to stay productive while working. Well, users can have their specific reasons, so there can be differences of opinion. Most of the time, they need a clean device and a healthy digital workspace.
There must be a mountain of files, icons, duplicate files, or old email messages that you have to deal with on a daily basis. Some of them are not even required. If you have spent most of the time working from home during the pandemic, you must be aware of the issues that you face while dealing with files.
So, if you are finding quick ways to get organized, here are some helpful tips.
Clean Old Messages
If you are using desktop messaging apps like iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, or Signal, you might need to delete several messages for the sake of privacy. It also helps to speed up the application to some extent, so deleting old messages is the way to optimize performance.
All messaging apps have dedicated procedures to delete messages, so no one method applies to all. If you are trying to delete text conversations in iMessage on Mac, check this guide on how to do it. For WhatsApp, you can Clear Chat by tapping the three-dot icon available in every contact.
Clean Your Desktop
A computer desktop tells a story and plays an important role in boosting your productivity. Whatever comes your way via email or desktop messaging apps, you save everything on the desktop, thinking to put them in the right folder later, which never happens.
It results in piling a lot of files, folders, apps, and other items on the desktop which look messy. Go through them one by one, detect the files, apps, and documents that are no longer required, and delete them from the computer without a second thought.
Clean Downloads Folder
If you have configured the settings to put every downloaded item to the Downloads folder on the computer, it’s time to clean it. In this case, at least your desktop looks cleaner. More often than not, the Downloads folder exhibits old files, redundant apps, outdated documents, and other stuff.
If you are using a Mac, there are several hidden spaces that you must take note of while deleting data. Don’t forget to empty the Trash after deleting files from the Downloads folder. In Windows, too, the items you delete from the Downloads remain in the Recycle Bin for 30 days, unless you delete them manually.
Optimize Storage Media
When you are thinking of removing clutter from your computer, cleaning the hard drive is certainly one of the first steps. Visit the drive that you use to keep all the data such as D: or G: or H: drive, open all the folders one after another, and delete the items that you do not require in the future.
Before you delete anything from the hard drive, make sure to back up the storage device for extra safety. In case an important file gets deleted accidentally, you can restore the same from the backup.
Delete Large Files
If you are decluttering your computer, mainly to get more space for other important stuff, take a tour of large-volume files. There must be files and documents that tend to occupy a large volume of space. This can be a PDF, an image file, a PSD, or a video clip. If you do an in-depth analysis, you will find leftovers of apps you already deleted a long time ago.
Deleting space-consuming items not only helps claim storage on the hard disk but also helps to optimize the speed and performance of the computer multifold. Repeat the process every few weeks for better output in the long run.
The Conclusion
Regardless of the operating system you use, it is important to clean the computer at regular intervals to prevent slow performance and other technical issues. The same goes for other digital devices such as tablets or smartphones.
Before initiating any of the above-mentioned suggestions, make sure to backup data. You can either store data in the external storage drive or move it to the cloud. The former makes your data portable, while the latter allows you to access it from anywhere on any smart device.