Decluttering Your Desktop

by Martin Johnson⁽²⁾

Is your computer desktop full of icons? How many of these desktop icons are used frequently? Do you have many folders or files that you don't need anymore? When you go on an organization and declutter mission, you just don't work on your physical space but also your cyberspace. Our computers allow us to work fast and be in touch with other people through cyberspace. If your desktop is so cluttered there is a tendency you get lost in the icons and the thousands of files that you have.

Organizing and decluttering your personal and computer space will lessen the stress that work can have on your life. People some time blame too much coffee but there are cases indicating that stress comes from technology use which include the use of mobile phones and computers.

When you have systematized your office work area, the next thing to do is clear up your cyberspace. You can "see" this space as graphically represented by icons or symbols. As any computer user will know there is virtually all kinds of icons for folders and storage spaces. Files are represented by the file names that you attach to them. Files and folders have the same attributes as in physical files and folders thus they can be organized too.

First thing to do to have some organization is to declutter your desktop. You can delete icons that are not needed. The Windows operating system has a utility that can tell you which software is not used often and it can clean up for you. You should group together similar utilities and software on one side of the desktop. Web browsers can be placed on one side as well as applications like a word processor and a spreadsheet. Work folders can be in one block also for easier access. Your desktop background image should never conflict with your icons. If you have a dark background then make the icon labels lighter in color for easy reading. The purpose of the icons is for trouble-free retrieval of the files and applications thus you should have an efficient system to do so.

Everyone has an email address these days. Some people even have multiple email addresses. Going through email is one of the activities that the majority of us do at home or at the office. Corporate communications are now made through emails because it is faster and more secure. You should have an email organization plan for your inbox when you can. Most email software now has the capability of allowing you to define categories and you should take advantage of this. You can have an email category based on importance. Emails needing immediate action can go to this section. You can also trigger anti-spam features to get rid of mail that is not relevant to you.

You can also uninstall programs that are not of use to you. This will declutter computer storage space and sometimes memory. You do not have to keep legacy software. You do not also need to keep installers on your hard disk if you have the CD or DVD. An external hard disk can be resorted to for files or software that you need to keep.

It is also a good practice to clean your system from leftover files especially when you do installations. A registry cleaner is needed and there are many free cleaners available online.

Your computer is a valuable asset to you and should be taken care by preventive maintenance and housekeeping of files to avoid hard disk crashes. Organizationof memory and hard disk space will help to extend the life of your computer.

Article submitted Wednesday, January 27, 2010 & read 92 times.

Martin Johnson is an organization expert. For more information on reducing clutter and organization at home or your office, visit http://www.clutterbustercenter.com

Leave your comments through Blogz:

» left by Jose Condemarin (2 years 10 days ago.)

Martin,

Nice way to put it, Thanks for the article.
Respond to this comment

4-0-1-0-0-ADSO

Most Recent