11 Steps to Declutterize Your Computer

What is lurking in the dark corners of your laptop? If you’ve owned a computer for more than a year, you’ve got clutter on your desktop. Those of us who have had computers for decades have duplicates, old files, corrupted files, useless junk, and more.

There are programs that will get rid of some duplicates and “orphan” files. Spring Cleaning, GrupaDupa, and the like. You can do a search to find a program you like. But the bulk of the decision making is still yours, and still takes decision-making about specific stuff you’ve stashed away like so many old T-shirts and cool knicknacks from that trip to Yugoslavia.

I used a cleaning/duplicate program and was stunned to find I had as many as 8 copies of the same file lurking in various spots. Even though my Mac has a search function, I can’t always find all the cool things I want because I forget what I called them!

The problem with so many “declutter your hard drive” columns is they focus on dumping temp and duplicate files, deleting cache files, and getting rid of programs you don’t use. That’s fine and dandy… but we’ve all got other things that need to be culled. The jokes we downloaded, the pictures with people we don’t remember, old notes and information that’s no longer relevant. These require you to pay some attention. So after you do the other decluttering for PC’s, or for Macs try this:

Make a commitment -  You can do this in chunks of time. Hint: Keep a notepad handy so you know exactly where you stopped if you don’t do this in one sitting. You’ll also need to note which folders are the “good” folders and which are dump-able.  I’m not a techie, and I’m sure some techie will read this and explain how they can do this on their terminal or with some other cool program. Oh well. This worked for me and it may work for you.

STEP BY STEP:

1. BACK UP! Then if you delete something by accident, you will be OK.

2.  ARCHIVE:  In an external backup system, create an ARCHIVE file for files you no longer need on a current hard drive, but want to keep. Think storage locker. In the Archive, create folders for Correspondence, Business Info, Personal, Photos, Humor, etc. to make it easier to sort.  If you can, keep the Archive external drive attached while you work.

3. ANALYZE:  On a blank piece of paper, start a list the old fashioned way. What are the 12 or so broad categories that you need/want keep on your computer? (Finance, Personal, Research, Marketing, Business Logistics, Writing, Games, Correspondence….)

4. ORGANIZE:  Once you’ve got those mapped out, briefly Outline what would go under each of these categories. The more clarity you have in the beginning, the faster this will go.

5. CREATE: On your desktop, create a new Folder in ALL CAPS for each of your broad categories.

6. INITIAL SORT: Move files into one of three places:  TRASH,  ARCHIVES, specific FOLDER appropriate for that topic. On a Mac, drag the file into the folder of choice. On a PC (in Windows – VISTA), create a folder on the desktop and drag the files to it using the Explore function: Right click the Start button, then left click “Explore” – that brings up the list of folders, etc. and you can drag files within that. (Thank you Bonnie Mattick for helping with PC hints!)

7. SECONDARY SORT:  Once you have moved all files, tackle only ONE CATEGORY Folder at a time. On a Mac, if you have more than one file of the same name, a window pops up with  “an older [newer] file with the same name exists, Replace?” I usually say replace if it’s newer,  ignore if it’s older. That simplifies the process during the first sort.

8. BE RUTHLESS: Unless you are writing a book or are a master archivist, you probably can dump most older files. If you just aren’t sure – create a file on the ARCHIVE disk called “For Consideration.”  Once you have finished cleaning up your desktop, you can sort through the Archive files at your leisure and dump things that don’t matter anymore. Really, there are a lot of emails on your computer consisting of, “Thanks, dude.” Those take up a LOT of hard drive and need to go away.

9. CHUNK IT: Set aside an hour for each folder – Max – Set a timer and keep yourself honest. That way you won’t get lost reading old stuff and stop doing this project. If you have a laptop, organize while you are doing something else – watching American Idol with your kids, sitting in the Doc’s office waiting for an appointment. At the airport.

10. RESTART: During this process, you may want to save everything and do a computer restart from time to time. Moving and deleting a lot of files can confuse your computer’s directory system (that’s a technical term ;-D.) As one of my tech guys told me, “Many of our computer issues can be solved with a simple restart.” So even if you are halfway done, note where you are and give your computer a chance to re-organize.

11. CLEAN UP: There are many programs out there to help you re-organize your disk after making a lot of changes. On my Mac, I start with Disk Utility to repair permissions. (Applications –> Utilities) After Disk Utility, I use Tech Tool Deluxe or Onyx. Since I’m not a PC person, I can’t recommend one for PC users, but you have a much wider choice than Mac users. The idea here is to help your computer re-organize, compress, optimize, and clean up all the random things that were changed.

Once you’ve got things started, maintain your new system of organizing by keeping a cheat sheet handy. Knowing where you will most likely look for things, and having a system for naming files will save you time and energy later.

Happy sorting!

Beth

© 2010 Beth Terry Seminars, Inc. All Rights Reserved