Organize a Computer – Managing Your Files
How to Manage a Hard Drive by Organizing Your Files
Nov 7, 2009
If you have been using your computer for more than a few months, chances are the files on it are a mess. Financial files are mixed in with family photos, family photos from last year's summer vacation are in a folder marked “Christmas”, and Christmas photos are nowhere to be found.
This sort of thing happens to everyone's computer, but with the help of this guide, anyone will be able to organize the files on their computer. To really clean up a computer, before doing any of the things mentioned in this guide, be sure to remove any unwanted an unnecessary programs.
Clear Out Old and Unnecessary Files
Aside from things like photos, music, and videos, if a file has not been touched in awhile, there's a good chance it's not necessary to keep it around anymore. Begin by choosing a drive and a folder to start organizing. Most likely, it will be best to start on the C:\ drive in the User folder. The name of the User folder is the name of the current account on Windows Vista, or the My Documents folder on Windows XP.
Systematically going through each folder, removing any files that are no longer needed, condensing similar folders into one, and reorganizing the file structure will make for a more manageable system. Some things to consider saving would be financial, tax, or legal information, photos, videos, and music, important files for work, project-related files, and customer and warranty information.
When in doubt as to whether or not to delete a file or folder, the user should simply keep it. That file might come in handy in the future.
Anyone who is a shutter-bug, taking pictures like it's going out of style, should go through his photo folder, deleting pictures that he thinks aren't worth saving. Just pitch any shots that aren't even worth looking at, saving valuable hard drive space in the process.
Another option is to move these old files and folders to an external hard drive. They are low-cost and will store thousands upon thousands of files. Using an external hard drive rather than deleting files can sometimes be the better decision if in doubt about if a file is ever going to be used again.
Back Up Important Files
Backing up important files to a CD, DVD, or external hard drive is always a good idea. Store any important documents, projects, presentations, emails, etc., along with all photos and music on an external hard drive and you won't regret it.
When a hard drive fails, although some or all of the data may be recoverable if the person attempting it knows what he is doing, it is definitely not worth it to take this risk. Saving files now will save headaches later.
Clean Out Email
Be sure to rid the inbox of any old or unnecessary messages or they will begin to pile up fast. If an inbox goes uncleared for a long period of time, potentially thousands of useless emails will pile up, hogging storage space and consuming resources when searching for files.
Start by going to the inbox, choosing a date behind which there will be no important emails, and delete them all. Then, sort through the ones that are left, deleting anything no longer needed.
Clear Old Internet Files
Finally, for a happy and healthy hard drive, clear out the computer's Internet history and cache. This can be done by simply going to the Internet browser in question, navigating to the Options panel and clicking “Clear History” and “Clear Cache”. Next, open up the browser's bookmarks tab and start deleting any bookmarks that are no longer used. Removing bookmarks can not only free-up space, but they can reduce the time spent searching for the relevant bookmark.
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