Computer Clean Up

My computer was dragging and numerous scandisks, virus scans, ad-aware scans and disk defrags didn’t do anything.

Time to start over. After my husband wiped the computer, I only installed the programs I use regularly and will install the others if I need them. It’s much easier to find the programs I want quickly.

I also decided not to add many Firefox extensions to keep my browser faster.

We use Retrospect for daily, automatic backups.

To make things easier when I re-install or use a backup I keep a list of what computer programs I have and where I got them (CD, download, etc.)

It’s so nice to have a clean desktop again. I also have on my Google calendar monthly to go through my desktop.

Another tip that makes things faster for me is I drag websites I visit every day to my browser tool bar. (You drag from the graphic left of the URL). You need to make sure the toolbar is unlocked.

And in my Windows XP, I add programs I use every day to my bar at the bottom. First, I unlock the toolbar. Then I pull the .exe graphic of the program I am using to the toolbar at the left. I also make sure show desktop is there.

If you use your computer, but don’t know how to do the basics like install programs, personalizing your computer or find things you have downloaded – you might want to take a few minutes to do some internet research and practice your computer skills. Most of the time the computer skills are easier than you think, it’s the fear of technology that makes it difficult to learn.

How can you simplify your computer?

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Photo Credit: Doug Wood