In keeping with the “makeover” theme of this issue of Valley of the Moon Magazine, here are a few of the organizational and efficiency strategies that we provide for caféMac clients to keep their computers running smoothly and efficiently. It can be difficult to keep computer files organized with the tremendous amount of email attachments, downloads and documents that you receive and create daily, however by implementing some of these helpful habits, you can begin to clean up your digital world.

A Brief History of the Desktop

The first graphical user interface (GUI) computer called the Alto was first developed in the mid 1970s by Alan Kay, Larry Tesler and several other researchers at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto. It used windows, icons (file cabinet, files, folders and trash can), and menus to support commands that opened, moved and deleted files on a bitmapped desktop that resembled a real desk top. In 1979, Steve Jobs visited Xerox PARC and viewed the Alto GUI which heavily influenced the development of the Macintosh, Apple’s first commercially viable GUI-based personal computer. When the Macintosh was introduced in January 1984, the desktop (created by the Finder application) revolutionized personal computing and set the standard for all personal computers operating systems (Mac and PC).

Thirty-five years later, the desktop is still here, sometimes clean and organized for some and wildly disorganized for others.

The 3 D’s

Desktop, Documents and Downloads are storage locations on your computer that keep  files and folders organized in icon, list or column view formats. 

Desktop

Most users desktops are cluttered, so if that describes your scenario, you’re in the majority. However, with a simple procedure, you can clean up your desktop quickly without losing anything.  

Open the Finder (Apple’s Happy Face) and navigate to the Desktop, select files and folders that are old or archival and move them to the Documents folder. Try to keep 10 items (folders and files) or less on the Desktop. If you are working on a project that includes photos, PDFs, documents, etc., file them into the Documents folder when you finish the project.

Documents

You can view your Documents folder by icon, list or column and you can sort items by Name, Kind, Date or Size. The Date sort can help you find files quickly based on when they were created, modified, added or last opened. Most users sort files by name.

Downloads

When you are downloading documents (PDFs, photos, Word & Excel files) or software disk images (DMGs) within your web browser (Safari, Firefox or Chrome) they are saved in the Downloads folder. You should look in the Downloads folder regularly and remove unnecessary files and images to free up space on your computers disk drive.

Malware

Run an anti-malware program (malwarebytes.com) on a monthly basis to clear out unnecessary and malicious software from you Mac (or PC). And, don’t ever get technical support from companies that call you on the phone or send emails that ask you to contact them to clean up your computer. They masquerade as legitimate companies but they are 100% fraudulent. Just hang up!

Restart or Shut Down

At least 25% of technical support issues are solved by shutting down or restarting your computer. You should be shutting down or restarting once a week. Prior to shutting down, files need to be saved and software applications need to be quit (not closed). In the process of shutting down, your computer goes through a methodical process that cleans up and files key software components that makes your computer run faster next time it starts up.

Take a Break

Because technology is integrated into so much of our day to day life, we end up spending hours in front of “the screen” and can forget to take some time off. It’s better to take shorter breaks more often than longer breaks and less often; for example a 5-10 minute break after 50-60-minutes of continuous screen time is better than a 15 minute break after 2-3 hours. The National Day of Unplugging was on March 1st, however you can and should unplug from your digital devices on a regular basis to reconnect to the real (analogP) world.