How to Declutter your Devices?

It's officially been spring for over a month, but with the long winter we've experienced this year, we are just now getting those awesome spring temperatures. I don't know about you, but I clean better when the sun is shining and the weather is warmer. Springtime is a great time to shake off that winter dust and clean out all of that clutter, giving you and your items a fresh start. While you're cleaning out that clutter, don't forget about your tech devices and gadgets. If you're like me, you spend a lot of time on your tech devices and over time our computers, phones, and tablets can slow down because they are cluttered with junk. So, when you're doing your spring cleaning, don’t forget to clean up your tech. There are obvious things you should do like deleting old text messages, emails and photos, but there are a host of other things you should be doing. I get questions constantly from our customers at Integral all of the time about what things should you should do to spring clean your tech, so your favorite tech expert has put together a list of tips to get control of your digital clutter:

1. Change Your Passwords For All of Your Online Accounts. It’s always a good idea to change your passwords every so often, so why not do it this spring? There are too many data breaches occurring where your personal information is leaked into the hands of cyber-criminals. You wouldn't believe the number of calls we get at the office of people who have had their personal information stolen because they hadn't changed their passwords for years. If you make it a habit to change your passwords on a regular basis, you can avoid your personal information falling into the wrong hands. Using a Passphrase instead of a password helps you create passwords you can easily remember. Need help with creating a passphrase, visit www.useapassphrase.com. Passphrases are more secure than your standard password and are so much easier to remember. Creating passphrases along with using password management software such as LastPass (www.lastpass.com) or the password management system built into web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Opera, and Firefox will keep your personal information safe.

2. Back Up Your Files. I hate paper and keep everything stored digitally. Instruction manuals, pictures, documents, the list goes on and on. In this digital age, I know many of you are storing items digitally as well. It's the reason I'm always preaching about backing up your stuff ... and stuff isn't the "S" word I wanted to use. Cloud backup is your best option with services like Carbonite (www.carbonite.com), Google Backup and Sync (www.google.com) and iCloud drive (www.icloud.com) dying to save your important information. Remember there is a difference between Cloud Storage and Cloud Backup. Cloud storage is meant just to store one copy of your files, where Cloud backup keeps multiple copies of your files. Make sure your backup your files in multiple places, not just on the Cloud, but also on an external hard drive as well.

3. Donate, Trade or Sell Your Old Tech Devices. We have several laptops, desktops, tablets, and phones sitting around the house. I know you do too. Why are we keeping these devices? There's no good reason to keep them. Make it a point to stop hoarding your tech devices and get rid of them. If you have information on them that you want to ease, just reset your items to factory defaults and the information will disappear. There are many recycling places near you, just do a Google search to find one and get rid of that digital clutter

. If you have a device that still works, donate it to a needy non-profile. Have something newer that you want to sell, sell it on Facebook Marketplace, or Craigslist, or trade it in on Amazon.

4. Declutter and Clean Your Tech Devices. It's so easy to keep old documents, pictures, files and programs on our devices. Storage is so abundant on most of our tech devices, it becomes easy to start hoarding electronic items. Take a moment and delete emails that are older than a year old. Uninstall apps and programs you haven't touched in six months. Go through your pictures and documents, to delete those duplicates to save space and to make your devices more organized. Got tech devices that are dirty, take a microfiber cloth and wipe them down. Never use Clorox wipes. Need to disinfect devices, get PhoneSoap to disinfect your phones, tablets, and laptops.

Do you take the time to clean your tech devices for spring cleaning? If you do, what methods do you use?

Want to ask me a tech question? Click here and send it in! If you prefer to connect with me on social media, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter and watch great tech tip videos on my YouTube channel. I love technology. I've read all of the manuals and I want to make technology fun and exciting for you. 

If you need on-site or remote tech support for your Windows\Macintosh, computers, laptops, Android/Apple smartphone, tablets, printers, routers, smart home devices, and anything that connects to the Internet, please feel free to contact my team at Integral. My team of friendly tech experts are always standing by to answer your questions and help make your technology useful and fun. Reach out to us a www.integralcomputerconsutants.com or phone at 888.256.0829. 

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