Top Tips for Cleaning your Computer

On the second Monday of February each year, we mark our respects to the slow-loading, mice-running, circuit boards we call computers, for ‘Clean Out Your Computer Day’. A worldwide event, initially sponsored in 2000 by The Institute for Business Technology, advancements have been made massively in the 15 years.

SO WHAT EXACTLY COULD YOU DO ON MONDAY 9TH FEB 2015?

Well as I seem to be the DigiEnable computer-fixer specialist and recently rebuilt our server I thought it would be useful to offer some tips to keeping your computer (and indeed online tools and mobile devices) clean.

OPERATING SYSTEM

Firstly if your device is full of random junk files, spam, temporary files, and programmes you don’t use, it’s going to slow things down.

For Windows, Mac or Android we’d suggest CCleaner https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

For Linux Bleachbit http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/

For iPhone and Android AVG Cleaner http://www.avg.com/gb-en/for-mobile 

FILES AND FOLDERS

A mention here about labelling your files and folders correctly so you can find anything within a minutes searching. This goes for online and offline, and any files that are sync’d with servers or clouds. A favourite website of mine Unclutterer has a great load of helpful organising tips including temporary folders, using that DELETE button, and folders mirroring life

https://unclutterer.com/2008/03/13/managing-computer-file-clutter 

INBOXES

One of the problems most people face in this digital world is being bombarded by emails, so much they feel overwhelmed if they are off for even a few days. The answer I’ve been practising for a while now, is #inboxzero a trend not particularly new, or innovative, but real down-to-earth common sense. Taking each email in your inbox at a time and making an action on it, not just leaving it in the inbox for later. Also setting up and using filters and folders to organise the mass of digital notes in your mail. Another favourite website of mine Zen Habits has further info

http://zenhabits.net/email-zen-clear-out-your-inbox 

OUTSIDES

And a final suggestion to clean the outside of your computer or device. If it’s a big PC thing, get a cloth and a hoover out, gently wipe over surfaces and if possible with an attachment, hover into the air vents. Be careful with this though, and do it when the computer is off. You can buy little hand-held vaccums specific for this job.

Then all of you will have some sort of screen – clean it! If you don’t already do this on a regular basis, you’ll suddenly see things of your screen you never saw before. Behind all that grim and grease is a clean, bright screen.

Then finally clean your keyboard. Turn it upside down and gently tap it, you’ll be discusted at the amount of dust and dirt that comes out. Again there are now specific devices you can buy for this. My favourite tools are Pledge All-Purpose polish, a microfibre cloth and one of these

http://www.oxo.com/p-1114-electronics-cleaning-brush.aspx 

This list could go on and on. There’s online information to consider too. What accounts do you still have that are no longer active, where is that backup of your family photos, do you have multiple copies in different places, old clients contacts, etc. etc.

A great bit of inspiration is https://www.flickr.com/groups/unclutterer 

Hopefully, this will at least prompt you to have a think about where all your digital stuff lives, and if it could be deleted, renamed, moved or save more clearly. We all strive for clear and clarity, don’t we?

2 thoughts on “Top Tips for Cleaning your Computer”

  1. John Crumpton

    Some great links there Liz. I have a free version of AVG and CCleaner but keep getting sales pop ups from Reimage PC repairer. I understand that having too many anti-virus fixes can cause conflicts between the various softwares in the PC. Is Reimage a useful addition? Any advice welcome. Best wishes John

    1. DigiEnable

      Hi John, thanks for your comments 🙂 The Reimage PC Repair, we think is a bit malware-style, see this post here http://malware2fix.com/pote… If you’re just using one device/laptop, AVG free should be more than enough, and there’s also an AVG Cleaner you can get too.If you want to get rid of the very occasional adverts from AVG, I’d suggest upgrading to the first paid-for version. Having just one virus scanner, one cleaner and one anti-spyware is a good idea, if you have more than one of each they start to confuse each other when there is a virus and which one has authority to do something to block an attack.I’d personally uninstall Reimage and give your computer a “full scan” using AVG ~ Liz

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