Five Tips to Clean Up and Organize Your PC
Tomorrow is National Organize Your
Home Office Day for 2011. While many will be focused on finally filing that
growing pile of documents and receipts on their desk, actually implementing a
filing system that has some logic behind it, or tweaking the feng shui of the
physical office environment in some way, it is just as important to take some
time out to clean up your digital office--the PC.
The PC is the centerpiece of office
productivity. It is the heart and soul of the office, and when it is in
cluttered disarray everything else suffers. With some help from iolo--makers of
System Mechanic, here are five tips to help you
clean and organize your PC.
1. Uninstall. Uninstall
programs that you no longer need or use. They take up space on your hard drive,
may be loading in memory and wasting system resources, and represent a possible
security risk since you are unlikely to patch or update software you aren't
even using. Some software applications include an uninstall option in the Start
Menu folder. The best place to start, though, is the Programs and Features
option in the Windows Control Panel.
2. Delete. Delete unused, old or duplicate files, e-mails, e-mail
addresses, bookmarks and favorites. The average American adult has more than
1,800 digital files, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. That
number goes up dramatically, once you factor in all the duplicate, unused or
old files that unnecessarily take up your hard drive's space and make searching
for the files you need more time-consuming, and grinding on your processor and
hard drive. The Disk Cleanup utility in Windows is one good way to identify and
remove unnecessary bits from your hard drive.
3. Clean. Once you've
uninstalled unused programs, make sure to clean out your registry as well.
Invalid or out-of-date registry settings can slow down your computer's boot
time and cause weird hesitations and freezes during its operation. Messing with
the Windows registry can have catastrophic consequences if done wrong and identifying and removing unnecessary registry entries
is easier said than done. This is one area where using a third-party tool like System Mechanic makes sense.
4. Organize. Organize your
files. Once unneeded programs are uninstalled, unused or duplicate files
deleted and registry cleaned out, make sure the rest of your files are
well-organized. Use a logical file naming system and put files into folders
that make sense and are easy to remember and access. You can group files
chronologically, or by customer, or by project--it is up to you to determine a
system that makes the most sense for you and keeping your digital office
functional and tidy.
5. Personalize. Personalize
your computer. More personalizing helps you remember things and be better
organized. Moreover, with a computer that's configured to suit your needs, you
are more likely to remain better organized following Organize Your Home Office
Day and throughout the year. Explore things and do not hesitate to right click
on different tools. The Control Panel is the best place to begin.
Follow these five tips to declutter
and organize your PC. It can be tough, tedious work depending on the state of
your PC, but the effort will be worth it when you are able to work more
efficiently and more effectively.
