As the seasons change we clear the clutter of our lives for a fresh start, include your computer with these digital spring cleaning tips

Now that spring is here, it’s time to change out your wardrobe and do some much needed organizing.  While you are at it, you may want to take a look at your computer and do a digital clean up as well.  I know I am famous for placing things on my desktop to get to them quickly, and then I leave them there.  I like to call it “The Place OCD Forgot.”

Also being a techie I download and try tons of software that I sometimes don’t ever use again. Sadly, often times I never go back to get rid of it either.  So here are a few tips to help you get your computer all cleaned up.

Consider: What is this software used for?

If you are asking this question when going to open a program, chances are you should uninstall it.  We tend to keep programs we use most often on the desktop or if you’re a Mac user on your dock.  If you can’t remember what it’s for, or the last time you’ve opened it, delete it!

Pro Tip For Windows users go to “Add/Remove Programs” and look at the install dates on some of the programs if you want a listing of everything installed, as well as check recently installed updates

If you have to have all of those icons on your desktop– again, this is for my Windows users, then right click, and click “sort by” to auto-arrange the icons so that it’s now in rows.

If you’ve updated to a newer version of a program, but for some reason the old one is still there, go ahead and uninstall the old one to free up some space. There is really no need for two most times.

 Check for updates!

Your computer should be automatically updating anyway, but even still check for updates on your programs as well as the system itself, a lot of times there are new features and fixes to help your system run better.  Now that I think about it, Apple offers it’s latest operating system OS X Yosemite as a free download via the app store so go for it! You update your iPhone don’t you? Windows users Windows 10 is also going to be a free download for licensed Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users, it’s expected out this summer.

Battle the Bugs

Make sure your antivirus software is up to date or any at all. I know it’s so much easier to hide that little pop up to upgrade or the registration notice, but it only takes a few minutes.  If you’re looking for a one and don’t want to worry about subscription fees, check out Avast! Antivirus Software, it’s free.

Expand your Storage

Oh, and if you haven’t, now would be a great time to invest in a little bit of cloud storage.  I am not telling you to upload all of “those” pics to the cloud.  But it’s a good place to have those documents or files that you have to have in the event you can’t access your computer or your hard drive crashes.  Dropbox has a 1TB option that is $10/month. Think of it as an additional Netflix account charge.  If you don’t need that much space, there is also the free option from Dropbox and that gives you about 2GB.

Happy Spring cleaning!