Aurora Land Times

TECH CORNER WITH SEAN JINGA1. Create a Filing System in Your Documents FolderYour documents folder can quickly turn into a dumping ground for files, making it difficultto find things when you need them; and because your most important files are in thisfolder, disorganization can really add to your stress level. The fact that you often look firstto your documents folder can exacerbate the problem.2. Empty Your Downloads FolderThis is another place where you’re likely to spend time looking for a single file, scrollingover and over through the same folder because you can’t remember what it’s called.3. Clean Up Your DesktopDo you use your desktop like a downloads folder? Having a disorganized desktop on yourcomputer can be a lot like having a messy desk in your office — it can waste time, stressyou out, and doesn’t look very nice. The best thing to do here is to start totally fresh; geteverything off your desktop and where it belongs.While many people won’t have trouble doing this in ten minutes, if your desktop is packedfull of files, you might need a bit more time than that. Spend 10 minutes a few times a workjust clearing out old and unwanted files and placing important ones where they belong.4. Get Rid of Duplicate FilesHaving more than one copy of a file is a waste of space. And while having duplicate copiesof a couple pictures or songs isn’t a big deal, if you have duplicates of hundreds of files, itcan put a big dent in your valuable hard drive space.

5. Store Files Within AppsOne of the things that made a huge difference when I was cleaning up my own hard drivewas moving several things into Evernote. Now I keep my entire portfolio in there, whichwould have amounted to over 100 files. That’s 100 files that I kept out of my filing system! Ikeep a lot of PDFs in there, too — contracts, printouts, slides, and so on.Go Clean Your Hard Drive!So there you have it: five things you can do in ten minutes or less that will help cleanup your hard drive, declutter your desktop, and reduce the amount of disorganization inyour life. Now get to it!Do you have any favorite strategies for keeping a clean hard drive? Or are you finewith a huge mess of files all over the place? Share your thoughts below!