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Monday, April 25, 2011

Spring Cleaning for the Rootless: Tidying Up the Laptop


Re-organizing. Deleting. Archiving. Not much different from cleaning out a closet.

Am I ever going to need this again? No? Delete. Maybe some day? Archive.

Can I combine any folders? Yes.

I reconfigured the Windows 7 "libraries" system so it reflects what I need rather than the default arrangement. My libraries are now a tidy set of four: Documents, Downloads, Music, and Pictures. I removed default folders I never use, such as Webcams, Videos, and Fax. Ditto for folders called Public Music and Public Pictures.

And what's in Music and Pictures are actually just shortcuts from their "parent" folders nestled in the arms of my cloud-based, automatic back-up, data storage folder, itself ensconced within Documents.

[It should go without saying that I long ago deleted or uninstalled the pre-loaded, never-used and unwanted applications from my laptop, especially from my internet browser. But I know that so many PC users never take that stuff out, including all of the internet cafes in Ethiopia. As a result, they needlessly suffer visual and navigational clutter, not to mention, over time, slower work speeds.]


Sheesh! My photos were a mess ever since I migrated from the desktop to the laptop! Some were on my hard drive, some only on the Picasa website, and I realized I found Picasa difficult to manipulate, confounding my efforts to get my photos in order.

But now I've got it all straightened out and all is now orderly, easy to find, and visually serene.




Here's one person who has tips for tidying up one's computer files:  How to Organize Your Computer Files
 

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