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7 Ways to Keep Your

Computer Clutter-Free

by Maria Gracia Updated April 1, 2024 Join our newsletter to be notified when new content is added to our website. The longer most people own a computer, the greater the chances it’s going to contain a lot of clutter. While digital clutter is not as visible as a big pile of dishes in the kitchen sink or a table overflowing with paper, the more cluttered a computer is a)  the less storage space it’s going to have, b)  the slower it’s going to be, and c) the less likely you’ll be able to find what you need quickly. Here are seven ways I keep my computer clutter-free, and you can as well: 1. Delete 10 files a week. I don’t have the time to dedicate hours upon hours deleting unnecessary files from my computer, and I’m betting you don’t either. That’s why I dedicate five minutes a week to deleting 10 files (documents, spreadsheets, old text files, unnecessary photos, music files I no longer want, videos I no longer need, etc.) This helps keep my computer clutter free and doesn’t take a whole lot of weekly time or energy to do so. 2. Get rid of unused programs. There is no sense keeping old computer programs on your computer that you never use, and will never use again. Uninstall as needed. 3. Move old files off your computer.  Sometimes, we have to keep old files for legal or tax reasons, or to store memories, but that doesn’t mean they all have to take up residence on our computers. Move them to external hard drives, zip drives, or Cloud storage. 4. Sort files into folders. Sure, it’s easy to just keep files in the Downloads or Documents folders, but if you have hundreds…or thousands…of files in that one folder, it’s going to be very difficult to find what you need. I have two MAJOR folders on my computer…one for my business named “Get Organized Now” and one for personal, named “Personal.” Within those, I have sub-folders…like “Newsletters,” “Web Site” and “Reports” for Get Organized Now…and “Health,” “Scrapbooking” and “Travel” for Personal. 5. Use clear names when naming your files. Before saving any file to your hard drive, be sure to name it in a way that, when you look at it, you know exactly what it is. Also, be consistent with the format you use. Well-named file names may look something like these…notice that all the work schedules will sort together, all the letters are lower case, all the dates are in the same format, etc. : o work-schedule-0924.doc o work-schedule-1024.doc o work-schedule-1124.doc 6. Empty your recycle bin. Just like you empty the trash at home, you should be emptying your computer’s trash as well. Empty your recycle bin weekly. 7. Run your computer’s disk clean-up utility. Empty your computer’s cache regularly. In addition, most computers have a utility in the “System Tools” area called “Disk Cleanup.” Use it to remove temporary Internet files, system error logs and other files that can be safely removed from your computer. Back to Organizing Technology Index