Around ninety percent of American households have a computer. These days, people are spending much of their personal, work, and social time staring at their computer screen.
If you’re not careful, you could end up with a computer that’s cluttered and difficult to navigate. This can end up causing you to become stressed and frustrated.
By learning how to organize your computer, you’ll be able to be more productive when you sit in front of the screen and get to work. And we have the steps and tips that you need to know in order to get you started. So keep on reading and we’ll walk you through how to organize your computer.
- Get Rid Of Duplicate Files
The best way to start organizing your computer is by getting rid of the extra clutter. Duplicate files won’t just make your desktop look messy but they’ll also take up an unnecessary amount of memory.
You’d be surprised by how much space is being used up by multiple copies of the same file. That could be files that you saved twice to different locations or multiple downloads of the same thing. You need to track down all of the duplicates and get rid of them.
There are even free apps online that are able to find duplicates for you.
- Create Big, Main Folders
Now that you’ve gotten rid of all of those extra files, it’s time to put the files that you still have into folders. The system that you choose for file organization is going to be up to you. This is because it’s best if it’s based on your personal preferences.
However, one effective method is to start with three big folders. Have one for things that you made (Word docs, resumes, etc.), one folder for things that other people you know made, and one folder for everything else. This third folder can include movies, songs, and software.
- Make Some Smaller, Sub Folders
After everything has been separated into those primary folders, it’s now time to make subfolders within each large folder. The more folders, the more organized you’ll be.
Each folder is going to come with its own set of requirements for further organization. For example, you might want to organize your music collection into subfolders based on the name of the artist and then by album. Or, you might want to organize your digital photos by year, month, day.
Every subfolder can be different. Just try to keep everything within those three main folders.
It’s a good idea to move every new file into one of these folders as soon as possible so they don’t build up on you.
If you organize by file type, you might want to convert different files into new file types to make organization easier for you. For example, you may want to convert PDF to text or a PNG to a JPG.
- Erase Your Downloads Folder
The Downloads folder tends to be where most of your unnecessary files hang out. Go through the entire Downloads folder and drag everything that you don’t need to the Trash. The old saying, “when in doubt, throw it out,” really comes in handy here.
- Choose A Pleasing Desktop Background
Please, feel free to go ahead and make your desktop image whatever you’d like it to be. Whether it’s a beautiful landscape, a family photo, or a funny meme. However, you want to choose carefully because you’ll be staring at this image for hours on end.
While it might seem like a trivial thing to put a lot of time into choosing your wallpaper image, it’s something that you’re going to be staring at every day. And it may very well have an impact on your mood and productivity.
Try to choose something that’s visually pleasing to you.
- Get Rid Of All Those Visible Files
Even if you’ve made those three main folders already, you still may have some extra files scattered across the background. If that’s the case, then move everything (including the three large folders) out of sight. It’s best to have one folder on your desktop that simply says “Desktop.”
Try to keep everything in that Desktop folder to avoid any clutter. And you’ll also get to enjoy that lovely background photo you chose.
- Put Some Thought Into File Names
It’s one thing to simply put your files into folders. However, you enter a whole new level of organization when you know how to name those files. File naming is so important when it comes to proper organization.
You shouldn’t have files or folders that have meaningless names. Take some time and make sure that all of your folders and files have names that will actually let you know what information is inside. And make sure that you don’t use the same file or folder name more than once.
The Importance of Knowing How to Organize Your Computer
Hopefully, after reading the above article, you now have a better idea of how to organize your computer. As we can see, it’s not that difficult to do but it does take some time and effort. Just make sure that you continue to organize as you make new files so that you don’t get disorganized again.
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