How to clean up your computer once and for all. Problems of Sergei Petrovich

Even a superhero cannot cope with the computer rubble that has accumulated over the years in one sitting. No, here you need to take a completely different approach: small but constant steps that will ultimately lead to victory. And to make them easier, it is better to attach them to some constantly recurring and inevitable events.

1. Set up one service every week

Reports of hacking popular services appear with alarming regularity. Developers respond by constantly fixing vulnerabilities and adding new security settings. All you have to do is find a little time and turn it on in Google, activate it in Facebook, LastPass, and so on.

Each week, choose a service or app that you use regularly and spend some time setting it up, paying particular attention to privacy options. I am sure that as a result you will discover several new interesting features, and you can also make your work on the Internet more secure.

2. Remove one item from your desktop every time you turn on your computer.

The desktop is a great place to temporarily store documents, files or program shortcuts. Keyword- “temporary”.

If your desktop has turned into a dump in which it is impossible to find anything, this is not the case. In this case, you need to make it a rule to get rid of one element every time you boot your computer. Files go to the clouds, documents go to work folders, watched movies and music go to the trash, and shortcuts go to favorites.

3. Unsubscribe from one newsletter daily

Personally, I have to register on a huge number of sites to test services and programs. And each of them considers it their duty to start bombarding me with letters about their updates, new features, discounts and other events. As a result, my inbox is flooded with emails, most of which I would rather never see.

All this is possible and necessary. However, immediately taking the time to remove yourself from all mailing lists is quite problematic. So I try to get rid of at least one unwanted sender every day.

4. Organize your photos

After the appearance of more or less decent cameras in smartphones, we began to generate simply a gigantic number of pictures. However, taking beautiful photos is not everything. It is advisable to upload them to one of the cloud storages, provide titles, indicate the people depicted on them and the location of the shooting. Then your photo archive will truly become a repository of memories, and not just a dump of pictures.

Most often, the work of organizing a photo archive involves performing many monotonous actions that do not require much brain strain. Therefore, it is best to do it at the very end of the day, when you are already tired. At the same time, remember happy moments your life and relax.

5. Check one link from your favorites every time you open your browser

Many people have the habit of immediately sending the find to their favorites when they discover an interesting site or article on the Internet. Gradually, so many elements accumulate there that it turns out to be absolutely impossible to find “that same article.”

There are two ways out of this situation. Radical - just close your eyes, delete all the content of your favorites, and turn to Google every time to access the necessary sites. And conservative - still try to put order in the bookmarks.

This is not as difficult to do as it seems if you process one link each time you launch the browser. In less than six months you will only have useful resources that you really need.

6. Read books, not news

On the one hand, we all constantly read something: news, forums, Twitter and Facebook. On the other hand, this reading is not at all beneficial, unlike reading real literature.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop a habit that will help you gradually replace “wrong” reading with “correct” reading. Make an agreement with yourself that before visiting Facebook, Twitter and other hot spots on the Internet, be sure to read a couple of pages of a book. At first it will be unusual, but then you will get used to it. And it turns out that serious literature can be much more exciting than cats on social networks.

7. Use calendars and reminders

Remembering all these tips can be quite difficult for today's busy person. And why do this if there are so many different calendars and task managers? Just enter the tasks you need into your favorite planner, and you won’t forget when and what needs to be done.

Do you have your own signature tricks that help deal with constant computer problems?

Vladimir Pavlovich is the owner of a modest business producing earplugs, but looking at the desktop of his laptop, you might mistake him for some secret agent. The whole screen is literally strewn with a lot of files and shortcuts - real center management of undercover operatives. Behind the huge accumulation of icons, it’s not easy to guess the outlines of a blue BMW, but finding something you need among this pile of information is real torture. Just looking at a screen is enough to raise your blood pressure. But Vladimir Pavlovich is not an agent at all. It's just that his computer is a real funnel of entropy.

Is there a connection between professional activity Vladimir Pavlovich and the disorder on his computer desktop, it’s impossible to say for sure, because from time to time each of us accumulates a lot of junk or simply materials that are not properly sorted on the screen. Meanwhile, such an environment does not bode well for you: you may not notice it, but, according to research, computer clutter has Negative influence on your productivity by hindering normal distribution time to complete certain tasks and reduce your concentration.

One day, Vladimir Pavlovich decided that enough was enough, and if he wanted his business to prosper, he would have to clean up the mess in his computer and develop principles that would not allow this madness to happen again.

Read today's article about the dangers of desk clutter and how you can deal with it.

The price of disorder

Having a computer cluttered with information is an expensive pleasure. Of course, we are talking about mental costs. Researchers from Princeton University have empirically proven that people whose desks are cluttered perform much worse on cognitive tasks than those who have everything necessary files arranged systematically, in a certain order.

The finding that our brains take longer to find the files we need when they're scattered isn't really surprising at all.

Moreover, the additional distractions that probably abound on your desktop act as triggers that force us to solve unimportant tasks - which leads to poor concentration and unnecessary loss of time.

Every icon, browser tab left open, and program minimized to the toolbar is like an annoying reminder of unfinished business and unresolved tasks. As a result, this merciless onslaught of triggers easily leads to the fact that instead of solving the current problem, you are moving in a completely “different direction”.

This kind of jumping from problem area to another, according to Sophie Leroy, a researcher at the University of Minnesota, causes irreparable harm to our productivity, since any problem grabs a piece of our attention, making it difficult to return to the point where , in fact, a distraction occurred.

Removing unnecessary triggers frees up our minds and allows us to focus all of our power on the tasks at hand. Whereas loss of concentration and chaotic surroundings put heavy psychological pressure on us and prevent us from solving problems in the best possible way.

If you need additional arguments in favor of order, keep in mind that in addition to additional cognitive waste and unnecessary waste of time, you also lose in computer performance. Each open tab is an additional load on the processor and RAM. Of course, now there are technologies that allow automatic mode stop the consumption of resources to maintain unused programs and processes, but these, speaking in metaphors, are those drugs that eliminate the symptoms, but not the disease itself.

Removing triggers

So, the first thing you can do to somehow relieve your working space- create a folder and move into it all the files that are in currently are on the desktop. Of course, this will not solve the entire problem, because you will simply move the mess from one place to another, but it will still stop being an eyesore.

“Search” (or Spotlight - the built-in search function in Mac OS) will help you quickly find this or that file, so it makes sense to use it, and files that you access every day (for example, a shortcut Word editor), can be easily found in the tab " Recent Documents" (or place it on the taskbar).

You can listen to Vladimir Pavlovich’s advice and change background image desktop to some plain wallpaper. If you own an Apple product, you can also use Bartender 2 to post all your running applications at the top of the screen. After all the procedures done, you will start every day with a “clean slate”.

To keep your attention on current tasks and not get distracted, you can turn off all notifications (alerts) from programs:

Caption: “Turn off notifications”

Use the Do Not Disturb feature. Set the time interval from 7.00 to 6.59 am (day):

Once you've turned off all those annoying notifications and tidied up your desktop, you'll need to deal with the biggest enemy of your productivity: your browser.

The first problem is what to do with all the open tabs? First, they need to be divided into several categories. For example, it might look like this:

tabs related to what you are currently doing;
articles you plan to read later;
sites you may need in the future;
communication tools (social networks, etc.).

Sorting tabs will help you quickly bring order to your browser. For example, the URLs of sites that you use daily can be entered into a special sheet, a kind of database. If necessary, you open this sheet (for example, a document on Google Drive) and select the resource you need.

Next, what to do with the articles? The truth is that articles you put aside for later are usually never read. But now we are not talking about this, but trying to figure out where to save all these materials. To protect yourself from clutter, you can use the services

Pocket was created in 2007 by Nate Weiner to help people save interesting articles, videos, and more from the web and enjoy them later. After registration, an active button will appear in your browser, when you click on it current page will be saved in your account:

This is how this button will be displayed in the Yandex browser

Evernote's web clipper also offers more advanced functionality. By clicking on the icon in the top sidebar of your browser, you can choose in what format you will save the page: completely, as a snapshot, as an article, etc.:

If it seems to you that all these tools are nothing more than a way to transfer information noise from one place to another, but not solve the very cause of this noise, know that the abundance of information today is not a problem at all. The challenge is to organize the incoming material so that it does not affect your productivity and clarity of thought, and at the same time is easily accessible when needed.

Another source of chaos in your head and computer is email and social media. These guys are constantly trying to grab a piece of your time and attention, so the best way to deal with them is to turn off all notifications and not keep the pages with these services open while you are doing something that requires strong concentration. Social media like jelly - try it once and get stuck in it for a long time, reading an endless series of posts from news feed. You will think that you are busy, although in reality it is just an illusion of activity.

You can also use tools like StayFocusd or Freedom to block yourself from visiting certain resources while you're busy.

Once you've put everything in order on all possible fronts, it's time to set aside time in your schedule to "take out the trash" from your computer and browser and not let the abundance of information overwhelm you. Just 15 minutes a week will be enough. If you do it right, you will experience an increase in efficiency and mental clarity.

Conclusion

You may not think much of it, but chaos in your environment means chaos in your head. Clean up your surroundings and you will feel energized and increase your productivity. The main conclusions of the article are below:

clean your desktop by dumping all files into one folder (or better yet, sort the ones you need and delete unused shortcuts);
turn off all notifications from applications installed on your computer and social networking services;
leaving too much open tabs in a web browser, you slow down the speed of your computer and create many additional incentives for yourself to be distracted;
use these useful utilities, such as Evernote's web clipper, Pocket service or similar applications;
Every week, dedicate at least 15 minutes to clearing away all the garbage that has accumulated over the past 7 days.

Where can I find this file? Where did I save an important document a month ago? Why am I already seeing a third copy of these files? I'm running out of space on my hard drive and I can't figure out how much space my files are taking up!

From time to time I come across such questions or ask similar ones myself when I audit data on a client’s computer and see the chaos in which they store their files.

It is important for me to store files in a convenient structure so as not to waste extra time when working with information. I attribute this process to proactive actions that affect personal effectiveness.

In my article, I will share with you several rules and techniques for creating a structure for storing files and how I myself store files on my computer.

A few words about Why do we need a file storage structure at all?

A structure convenient for you will give you:

Convenient and more quick search information;
Understanding the amount of data that is valuable to you;
Reduce backup costs (time and/or money);
Convenient backup;
The ability to easily explain, if necessary, to loved ones or colleagues “what and where” is located.

Usually, after putting things in order, the number of stored files and their total volume are reduced, because duplicates are found and different versions files, and also deletes accidentally forgotten or no longer needed files that only take up disk space.

First of all, the initial data: the “My Documents” folder, inside which all the files are located, or (more often and worse) many folders with different names and purposes in different places hard drive. This is what causes the questions I mentioned at the beginning of this article.

I divide the stored files (data) by purpose and store them in several folders:

Music
Movies
Photos
Video

This is what it looks like in reality:

More details about the purpose of folders and clarifications to them in the table below:

You can use folder names that are convenient for you and, if necessary, change the composition of the structure.

How to clean up your computer or five steps to order

Are you ready to get your files in order? Great! You only have five steps left to take. Make sure you can take a couple of hours to sit down and do these steps once and for all, and not drag them out over days, weeks, months and end up not doing them at all.
Ready? Go:

Create a file storage structure that is convenient for you. It is better to do this not on the “C” drive, but on the “D” drive, if you have one and there is enough space there.
All files that can be quickly decomposed (in less than one hour) - arrange them in your new structure.
Move everything that you are sure to understand in the near future (no more than one week) to the “Downloads” folder.
Transfer the remaining files to the “!Archive” folder created for this purpose (it will be the top one in your list*). If you need something from this folder, then find it and transfer it to new structure and work with files there!
Keep your folder structure organized using the rules below.

*To ensure that the folder you need is always at the top of the list, use Special symbols, for example “!”, “#”, “$” before the folder name and it will automatically move to the top. I myself only use Exclamation point, this is enough for me and does not interfere with reading the folder name.

Rules for maintaining a structure for storing files in order

1. Evaluate the need to store the file you are downloading in your structure. Ask yourself questions:

will the file be useful to me?
Why will I store this file?
Do I already have this downloaded file or another version of this file?
Will it be possible to download it again if necessary?

3. Clean out your Downloads folder once a week and remove anything unnecessary. In general, do not accumulate “useful” files that you have not used for years - store them in right place or delete periodically.

To maintain order in your data storage structure, you can configure it so that you can save files only inside the Documents, Photos, Movies, etc. folders. In my example, nothing can be stored in the root of the “DATA” drive (drive “D”). If you wish, you can create the same settings inside the structure folders.

This approach is often used in companies where several employees have access to the same computer and work with the same data. These restrictions force the structure to be maintained unchanged and protect it from accidental change.

Implementation will require a little knowledge of access control using accounts and managing access to files and folders.

As an example, I will consider the most common situation when you are working in Windows OS with administrator rights (you have rights to change operating system and file access, and your Account is a member of the Administrators group).

First we create the folder structure you need on your local drive, in my example below this is the "O" drive.

A new window opens in front of you, where we boldly click the “Change permissions...” button, agreeing to the operating system request that you make changes:

Select the “Administrators” group from the list and click the “Change” button:

Now we need to be careful, we have control over access to files and folders in our hands.

In the “Apply” area, select the “only for this folder” option (so that you can still save files and folders inside the folders we have already created):
Uncheck the “Allow” column and put them in the “Deny” column for two permissions “Create files/write data” and “Create folders/write data”.
Click the “OK” button

The operating system will warn us that permissions denial elements have the highest priority to control file access. We confirm execution by clicking "OK" again.

Close the windows by clicking the “OK” button again and check the result. All!

What if you need to change the structure later? Following the diagram above, you reach the section “ Extra options security for local disk (X)" and delete the element type "Ban" (in the list this is the leftmost column).

If you're not sure you can handle it, do it with a more experienced colleague. You can practice on flash drives with file system NTFS.

Your computer may be nice office. It stores:
- files;
- programs;
- drawings.

All this can be compared with the files, devices and decorations of a real office. The operating system is the boss. With all this in mind, imagine that you find yourself in an office that is slow and inefficient. Maybe, low performance The office you find yourself in is the result of many reasons. It's the same with a computer. It may contain a large number of unnecessary things that slow down your computer. The most common reasons are poor organization and lack of free space.

Disk cleanup.

There may be a large number of unnecessary files, devices and decorations in the office. It's the same with your computer. One of the best ways maintaining sufficient quantity free space is periodic disk cleaning. In the Windows operating system, a program that can be used for this purpose is called “disk cleanup”. It removes a large number of unnecessary files depending on the settings you specify.

To perform disk cleanup in Windows XP, click on the “My Computer” icon in the “Start” menu. Then click right click mouse on the image labeled “Disk C” or “Hard Drive” and select the “Properties” menu. Then click the button that says “Disk Cleanup” and follow the instructions. When selecting the type of deleted Windows files will provide you with information to help you make a decision. When viewing the list of file types, simply click on the name of the file type and you will get its description. This will help you know how safe it is to delete these files. To select a file type, simply check the box next to the type name. When finished, click OK.

It should be said that cleaning the disk will not take much time - just a couple of minutes, and will save you much more time by increasing the speed of your computer. However, to achieve best results It is necessary to clean the disk regularly. One way to periodically clean up the disk is to set this task to run on a schedule. This will allow the computer to automatically run Disk Cleanup at specific intervals and at times you set. In addition, you can periodically clean the disk yourself without setting a schedule.

Installation and removal of programms.

The information provided above will help you get rid of unnecessary files, but in addition, you may also need to delete unnecessary programs. This can be done using the Add/Remove Programs tool. It is located in the control panel and displays a list of all installed this moment programs on your computer and the option to remove them. It's worth using the Add/Remove Programs utility periodically to make sure you're using all the programs you have.

If the list contains programs that are no longer used, you can simply highlight such a program and remove it with one click. In most cases, to complete the program removal process, you need to restart your computer. This procedure will remove temporary files left after uninstalling the program.

The Add/Remove Programs utility is very useful, but not all programs are listed. Programs that were pre-installed on your computer, as well as the Windows operating system, can also be removed. For example, Outlook Express is a processing program Email default, which comes with the Windows XP operating system. If you don't use this program, you can uninstall it. Click the “Install and Uninstall” section Windows components", which you can find in the Add/Remove Programs utility and follow the instructions.

Defragmentation.

Many offices contain a large number of files and programs that are of some value and cannot be thrown away. In fact, they may contain files that are not even used but still need to be saved for some reason. Although these files should remain in the office, they need to be organized. That's why we create file folders, which contain groups of files related to each other. Then we store them in cabinets, having previously arranged them in alphabetical order.

On a computer, saved files are placed on the hard drive. However, they are placed according to the time they were saved. For example, if you open a Word document and save it as “file A” and then open another document and save it as “file B,” file A will be located next to file B. That’s great, but if you open file A later and save again it, then the added information is stored closer to file B.

When files are split this way, fragmented files are created. This means that the computer must first find the first part of the file, then the second, and open both parts in the same Word document. This may cause your computer to run slower. However, Windows invented a utility to rearrange files to eliminate file fragmentation.

You can start disk defragmentation by selecting All Programs from the Start menu. Then select “Accessories”, then “System Tools”, and you will see the “Disk Defragmentation” section. In fact, this is also alternative way run disk cleanup described above. Before you begin disk defragmentation, you can analyze your hard drive to see if Windows recommends disk defragmentation. You will understand whether or not you need to defragment the disk at this moment.

If you need to defragment your computer, just click on the "Defragmentation" button. To complete this task you will need certain time depending on the speed of your computer and the number of defragmented files. This may take 15-30 minutes or more. However, if you perform disk defragmentation, you can still use your computer.

Proper organization of storing files and information, putting things in order on the computer, will make the use of the PC more productive and increase the efficiency of working on the computer. With proper organization of work on the computer, the user will save a significant amount of time that he spends searching for files; unnecessary data will be deleted from the computer.

Many users often encounter situations where it is impossible to find something on their computer. All the files are piled up in the folders, complete chaos reigns. I think many people are familiar with this. Not only are your files scattered in disarray, but your computer is full of duplicate files that take up significant disk space.

I have already been asked to write this article several times. Visitors watching videos on my YouTube channel, noticed that the desktop of my computer is practically free of foreign elements, and in Explorer, files and folders on disks are distributed in a certain order and have normal names. I am fulfilling my promise, albeit with a delay of a couple of years.

I often had to deal with folders: “New folder1”, “New folder2”, with files like: “111”, “123”, etc., some folders are empty. Similar files and folders have copies and are duplicated.

Search the Windows operating system to access the necessary data without clear names, if they great amount, will not help much. Dealing with the mess will take a lot of time.

In this article I will share my experience in organizing file storage on a computer. If you have your own ideas for organizing the storage and use of information on a PC, share it in the comments to this article.

If you are having difficulty finding the files you need, your disk space will be reduced. free place, which is gradually being occupied by files and folders, you should start putting things in order on your computer.

You will have to spend a lot of time on properly organizing file storage (in “difficult” cases, you can do this in several stages), but believe me, the time spent will be worth it.

In the future, when there is no more clutter on the computer, you will only have to distribute new files to the appropriate places (disks, partitions, folders, etc.). You will quickly find the desired folder, file or document, because you will understand where to look for them.

Carry out work on organizing storage and putting things in order home computer in approximately this sequence:

Choice correct structure for storing information
Removing duplicate files
Distribution of files and folders
Renaming files and folders to give them normal names
Back up important data

Basic principles of information storage

Before you start putting things in order on your computer, you need to define for yourself the basic principles for organizing data storage.

All objects must be distributed into categories; in the future, all new objects must be distributed into previously created categories. The data storage structure must meet the following requirements:

the created structure should be convenient and as understandable as possible
changes shouldn't be chaotic
it is necessary to maintain order in the selected data storage structure

As a result, unnecessary and extra files(since files are often duplicated), free up space on your PC and increase productivity.

Determining the order in which data is stored

Proper distribution of information on the hard drive increases the reliability of the computer. In most cases, disk space The computer is distributed as follows: on the system local drive “C” the Windows operating system, programs, and other important data necessary for the operation of the system are installed, and the second local drive is used to store user data.

Why are two sections needed? For greater safety and operational reliability. The system and data must be separated.

In the event of a system crash, you will not lose data located on another local drive (drive “D”). Because after reinstalling the system, only the data on system disk“C”, everything else will remain intact and safe.

Therefore, it is advisable to have two or more local disks(for example, drives “C” and “D”). On drive “D” it makes sense to store your personal information: music, movies, photos, educational materials, software distributions, etc.

Before distributing data, please note the following: there should always be enough space on the system disk to run the operating system and programs installed on the computer. Do not forget about the future (suddenly you install applications that take up a lot of disk space), and that there is free space on the system disk (at least 15-20%) necessary for optimal performance operating room Windows systems. Otherwise, once the free disk space is full, your computer will seriously slow down.

On the system drive “C” there are folders “Documents” (My Documents), “Desktop”, “Downloads”, which sometimes store a large amount of information. These directories can be moved to another hard section disk. Personally, I don't do this, but only control the contents of these folders. I don't store files in the Downloads folder, but rather move downloaded files to permanent storage locations.

After installing a cloud storage application on your computer, the default storage folder is located on the “C” drive. If you use synchronization, all cloud data will be on the system drive.

If the cloud storage volume is large, optimal solution: Move the cloud storage folder to another local drive on your computer. In this case, your data from the cloud will not take up space on the system disk.

On my computer, I move cloud storage folders to other partitions. Read the article on how to transfer Yandex.Disk to another local drive.

On drive “D” of my computer there is a Yandex.Disk folder with a size of more than 200 GB, and on drive “E” there is a Cloud Mail.Ru folder with a size of 1000 GB. These folders are synchronized with cloud storage and contain important data for me. The folders are on the computer, so I have constant access to these files, and even if the hard drive fails, I will not lose important information, because thanks to synchronization it will be saved in the cloud.

Currently, I have two installed on my computer hard drives: on the first hard drive there are two Local disks “C” and “D”, and on the second hard disk there is one Local disk"E".

Disks are used as follows:

Local disk “C” (system disk)
Local drive “D” (file storage)
Local disk “E” (file storage)

Once you decide on your computer's drives, remove duplicate files.

Removing duplicate files

Removing duplicates will help weed out unnecessary copies of files, and unnecessary data will be deleted from the computer. Many computer cleaning programs have modules for finding and removing duplicates. To remove duplicate files, you can use specialized programs, For example, Auslogics Duplicate File Finder.

Cleaning up your desktop

Cleaning your desktop is the first step in the process of bringing order to your PC. The abundance of unnecessary data on the desktop can slow down your computer.

Some time ago, they brought me a laptop with the Windows 8 operating system. The laptop was terribly slow. There were a bunch of folders, shortcuts and files on the Desktop. There were a lot of photographs, some of the photographs were duplicated in different folders. I decided to see how much data is on the Desktop. It turned out that it was about 250 GB, which even shocked me a little.

It’s convenient for users to run everything from the Desktop, but then they are surprised slow work your computer. My suggestions for moving files to another drive or loading data into cloud storage, are often met with misunderstanding. Many people are too lazy to make an extra mouse click to access the necessary files.

The desktop is a place of work (this is not random name). Nothing should distract you from work. Therefore, you should not place it on the Desktop extra elements, which may well be located in other places, leave here only the minimum of objects that are really necessary. After this, you will notice that your work efficiency has increased.

While working, various temporary data may accumulate on the Desktop: folders, files, documents. Follow simple rule: After completing the work, remove all objects and move them to the appropriate places where they should be permanently stored.

Completed work on Word document(for example), move the document to storage locations for documents of that type.

There are only three objects on the desktop of my computer in Windows 10: the “This PC” and “Trash” icons, and the “Applications” folder. Using the “This PC” icon, you can quickly get into computer management, and the “Programs” folder contains shortcuts to the programs I use most often, most of which are portable. Sami portable programs located on drive "D".

You can do without such a folder for shortcuts. For portable programs, use the PortableApps.com Platform wrapper. Portable programs can be located anywhere on the computer, and they will be launched from the shell. Folder with shortcuts portable programs can be moved to the Start menu in order to launch portable programs from there, along with regular applications.

Distribution of files and folders

Once you have decided on where to store files on your computer, you will need to distribute the files and folders across disks. First, move and sort the data that you understand, and leave what is not yet clear for the final stage of distribution.

On the disk for storing files, create folders with clear names, for example, “Music”, “Video”, “Photos”, “Documents”, etc. Other folders will be created within these folders to sort files by certain criteria.

Create a strict hierarchy of folders in order to clearly understand where everything is.
Let's say you have a lot of photos, videos, and music on your computer. Transfer all multimedia files to the disk that you will use as storage.

The Photos folder will contain individual photos and folders of photos. Group photos according to certain criteria, for example, time taken, place photos in folders named certain parameters, for example, in the folder “Sea holidays in such and such a year.” I recommend always adding dates to folders with photos so that you can easily find the photos you need.

Place everything in the Music folder music files, which should be distributed into categories (folders) by artist name, album title, music genre, etc., depending on your preferences.

Do the same with films, documents, and other files. During the investigation, you will find many unnecessary files that should not be stored on your computer.

An example of folder distribution on my computer. Several folders with clear names have been created on drive “E”. The “Music” folder contains several folders with audio files, including the “80s Disco” and “Foreign Performers” folders. In the “Foreign Performers” folder there are folders named after the names of the performers and the names of the groups.

Program files are organized into folders named according to specific categories.

This logical structure will help you quickly and easily find the file or folder you need.

Clear names of folders and files

It is very important to always adhere to the rule: folders and files must be given clear names. Names should be clear to anyone.

Even if you don't have time to give a meaningful name at the moment, take the time to name the file or folder with a meaningful name after you're done. This will save a lot of time that you will have to spend searching the desired file or folders.

If there are a lot of files on your PC with unclear names, renaming will take quite a lot of time. Complete this work in several stages.

Putting your programs in order

pay attention to software your computer, remove all unnecessary programs and games. Look mailboxes email, you may need to clean it up.

Clean up your browsers. Remove unnecessary extensions. Deal with your bookmarks: check your bookmarks (it happens that sites cease to exist), group or conveniently distribute the bookmarks in the window visual bookmarks. If you have a lot of bookmarks in your browser, group your bookmarks into separate folders with short, clear titles on the bookmarks bar.

Cleaning and defragmenting your computer

After you've finished tidying up, clean your computer of temporary and junk files. When you move large amounts of files on your computer, a lot of temporary files. Remove unnecessary files by using Windows tools, or using a specialized program, for example, CCleaner.

After this, defragment your computer in order to collect the fragments of files in one place on the disk. With significant data movement, the degree of file fragmentation will seriously increase. Performing defragmentation will streamline the distribution of files on the computer and increase the speed of the system.

Save important data with backup

To securely save information, back up your system or important data. By using Reserve copy system to another drive (preferably on external hard disk), you will save the state of the system at the time of archiving.

If the operating system crashes, perform Windows recovery from backup copy. In the event of a hard drive failure, the system or other data from the backup can be restored to a new drive.

For backup, you can use the Windows operating system tool, or specialized programs: Acronis True Image(There is free version - Acronis True Image WD), AOMEI Backupper etc.

Constantly maintaining a certain order

After distributing files, maintain order on your computer, place new files in previously created categories, or create new ones. After execution daily work, distributing files and folders to permanent locations will not take much time.

Conclusion

Putting your computer in order to properly organize data storage on your computer will seriously improve your work efficiency. Files and folders will be distributed across the computer's disks in accordance with a certain structure, the user will quickly find the necessary data.