The average shelf life of a desktop PC is 5 years. After that, bugs and kinks start to show up, and they show up earlier if you’re a heavy (and quite careless) user. If you want your desktop or laptop to run smoothly and prolong its life, you should set time aside to do annual checks. After all, we do it for our cars, our teeth, our cholesterol – why not do an annual “health check’ for the thing where you spend most of your work and social media life?
Digital clutter tends to accumulate when unchecked and create all kinds of havoc on our electronic devices: smartphones, tablets, PCs, and laptops. First, they slow down your devices, and then they turn it into an expensive paperweight.
So what can a non-techie person do? Fear not, you don’t have to be a computer expert to be able to clean up your gadgets. Here are some easy ways to control digital clutter. Be sure to do these every few months to make sure your electronic devices run smoothly
The easiest place to begin is the system desktop. The desktop (of your PC or laptop) is not a repository for documents or screenshots or downloads that you have not yet organized into its own folder. You should not just save things there because they don’t have a home. Either delete them or find a home for them.
Speaking of deleting items from your system desktop…empty out your recycle bin or trash. These files still take up space on your device, so clear them out. It’s the easiest way to free up some space on your device.
Photos also take up so much space and create clutter. Seriously, we take so many photos of the same thing at different angles hoping to chance upon the perfect picture. It’s amazing how much thought we put into getting the perfect shot. You’re not really thinking about posting all 10 selfies so might as well remove all selfies that do not do you justice. Choose your favorite pose (1 max!…ok, 2 then) and delete the rest where you’re just posing differently in the same place, wearing the same outfit.
Take a page from the minimalist book and meticulously delete or remove any app on your device that is neither useful nor brings you joy… Remove that game you’ve already beaten, that editing software you never use, the fifth iteration of a task tracking app (you need just one anyway). If you haven’t used it in a 6-month time frame, chances are you’re never gonna use it.
If you’re noticing a slow down in your startup time or if your device is getting buggy or glitchy – it’s time to take it to the experts for a tune-up. Yes, a device tune-up is a real thing. Unless you’re extremely tech-savvy, leave it to the experts to clean up your devices. Otherwise, you might risk getting some or all of your files deleted.
Always make sure your antivirus is updated. Every click leaves a digital footprint and those footprints can be muddy or can track bugs and other undesirables into your device. So make sure you have an antivirus installed to help protect you from attacks and keep your system running at its optimum performance.
What is your digital device clean up rituals? Share them with us! Stay humble, hustle hard!
Written by Jaie O. The Help