Today is Valentine’s Day, and I’m lucky my wife didn’t leave me.  Over the weekend, she saw something she shouldn’t have in my email.  She was shocked when she saw it, and it made her question who I really am, and what I’ve been up to in my spare time.  For my part, I was ashamed and embarrassed.  I told her I would do better and that it wouldn’t happen again.

What she saw…was 6424 unread emails.  Yes, six-thousand, two-hundred and twenty-four.  My wife is someone that has like a hundred different folders in her email, and nothing goes unread or unsorted.  Needless to say, she was appalled by my antics.

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I mention this because today isn’t just Valentine’s Day...but it’s also National Clean Out Your Computer Day!  It’s a day to remind you to not only sort out your emails, but also your desktop, old files and programs, photos you don’t need, documents you should’ve deleted months ago, and so on.

And, unless you’re my wife, who doesn’t have a computer that could some tidying up?

In case you’re not sure where to start, here are a few basic tips to send you on your way…

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Delete your history, cookies, and temporary cache files.  Who knows, this may be something you do ever night, but if not, it’s a good place to start.  Just don’t forget any usernames or passwords.

 

Organize your computer’s desktop. If you have icons everywhere, and they’re all out of order, you can do two easy things.  The first is to organize those icons.  Right click your desktop, then go to "Sort by" then "Item Type".  This will group your icons according to type, and you can easily see what you do and don't need.  The second is to create separate folders for all those icons.  Right click your desktop, then go to "New" then "Create a New Folder".

Free up some space.  In Windows, go to the Start menu, then "Settings" -> "System" -> "Storage".  You'll find some different options, like Storage Sense (on Windows 10 and 11 at least).  This will have Windows automatically delete files you don't need.

Of course, be careful what you delete and organize, and don’t clean up anything that you have no idea what it is.  As always, if you have questions, contact an expert!  If you have Windows, this is also a handy link from Microsoft about storage space:  Free up drive space in Windows (microsoft.com)

Happy National Clean Out Your Computer Day!

 

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