According to WebWorkerDaily, today is “Clean Out Your Computer Day,” which means anything from scanning your system for viruses or getting the rat’s nest of files under control on your desktop. Of course, if you want to go squeaky clean, think about putting Linux on your computer or help someone else with their spring clean by putting Linux on their system.
It’s interesting how many add-on applications one can find to help fix inherent problems with Windows. Anti-viruses, de-fragging utilities, registry tools, and so on. Linux may have its problems, but I haven’t had to defrag a hard drive in about 10 years, or worry about running an anti-virus of any kind.
Spring cleaning for the files system is another story entirely. I tend to wind up with a ton of file clutter after using a machine for a few weeks, much less a full year. Lately I’ve been trying to keep it under control a bit more by arranging work files in a more strict directory structure (and making sure that it’s backed up) and weeding out the Downloads directory at least once a week, getting rid of files I won’t need again (like ISOs that have been burned to CD) and filing away PDFs and other documents I might need again.
One piece of advice in the WebWorkerDaily is good for all of us: Shut down that machine and do a good cleaning. Get some canned air and blow the dust out of the sucker, especially the vents around fans and so forth. If you have a desktop machine, at least once a year you should pop it open and get the dust out.
