Spring Cleaning: The Digital Edition

LAST WEEK was the official start of springtime here in the Northern Hemisphere, which means spring cleaning for many of us. You may be cleaning and organising your closets: sorting through your clothes, donating or selling items you no longer wear, and re-organising what’s left. You may be deep cleaning your home: washing windows, cleaning carpets, dusting and wiping down surfaces, and scrubbing floors. You’re most likely decluttering: going through your belongings and getting rid of items you no longer need or use, and re-organising what remains. You might be cleaning and maintaining your outdoor spaces: raking up old leaves, pruning trees and trimming shrubs, cleaning patio furniture, and planting new flowers or plants. However, you may have not thought about the fact that spring cleaning isn’t just for your living space – it’s also a perfect time to tidy up your tech and online presence. Here are seven great ways to spring clean your digital life, from emails to files, and more.

Take some time to sort through your files and documents on your computer, deleting anything you no longer need and organising the rest into folders and subfolders, to help you find what you need more easily, and free up some storage space.

Go through your email inbox and unsubscribe from any newsletters, promotional emails or other subscriptions you no longer read or find useful, to reduce email clutter and free up some mental space.

Clearing your browser cache and cookies can help speed up your internet browsing and also protect your privacy by removing any stored login credentials or other sensitive data. You may also want to take this time to review all of your passwords to make sure that they are all strong and unique, and change any that you’ve reused or that have been compromised. For an extra layer of security for your online accounts, enable two-factor authentication, which requires you to enter a code from your phone in addition to your password when logging in.

Make sure to regularly back up your important files and data to an external hard drive or cloud storage service to prevent data loss, in case your computer crashes or is stolen.

Ensure that your computer and mobile devices are running the latest version of their respective operating systems and software programs to help improve performance and security by fixing any bugs and vulnerabilities.

If you’re not using a particular online service or social media account anymore, consider deleting it to help protect your personal information, and also reduce the risk of any security breaches.

Take some time to review your privacy settings on social media and other online accounts, making sure you’re comfortable with the information that’s being shared and who can see it. Adjust your settings as needed to protect your privacy and security.