Five spring cleaning methods for mobile devices
We’re all geared up to set the clocks ahead for Daylight Savings Time tonight. Actually I think we’re supposed to do it at 2am tomorrow morning, but like many others, I just cheat and change the clocks before bed. I look at this as my unofficial start to spring and that means: Spring Cleaning. Sure, we clean out the garage, basement and closets, but this is my annual time to review and clean up what I’m carrying around on mobile devices too. Here’s what I do…
1. On every device, I do a thorough review of the installed applications and add-ons. It doesn’t matter what the device is: smartphone, PC, Mac, portable media player… heck, even the Xbox 360 gets a review for downloaded demos, TV shows and movies that might be wasting space. My rule: if I’m not using the application on at least a weekly basis: buh-bye. Worst case is, I can always put the application back if I miss it. A perfect example is that I just pared down my Microsoft Office installation. I don’t use Access, Groove or PowerPoint and I’m happy with Google Docs in lieu of Word and Excel. They’re all gone and only OneNote 2007 and Outlook 2007 remain.2. Disk cleanups on my Windows devices. I freed up plenty of space after removing unused apps and temporary files on my Samsung Q1P UMPC. She’s got a 60 GB hard drive with Windows Vista Ultimate installed and after my cleanup, I’ve only got 16 GB in use. Hmm… that tells me that I could easily live with a 32 GB SSD drive in there… if I can find one that won’t cost me an arm and two legs.3. Clean out those document folders. How many of gigs of docs (and their revisions) are you carrying around. Why aren’t these backed up some where of offloaded to external storage? Moving to an online productivity app has helped me tremendously here as I have no local docs, but if you have them, do you really need to carry all of them everywhere with you?4. The empty Inbox. I try to keep my Inbox as empty as possible all the time. Now’s a great time to clean it out if you’re behind; in fact, why not reconsider a GTD method or tool that works best for you. Start filing, paring down and taking action on those e-mails so you start the new season with a fresh, clean-smelling Inbox.5. Got old peripherals or batteries? What a perfect time to review all of the little essentials you need for your mobile devices. Is that USB cord too long and unwieldy, making for a birds-nest in your gadget bag? Shop for a short cord and save on aggravation the rest of the year. Is your device battery only good for about half the charge it used to be? Consider refreshing it manually or plunking down cash for a new one.It’s a perfect time to rethink what you use, how you use it and what works best for you. Hey, if you hurry up and evaluate your needs now, you can get your house in order before we lose that hour. ;)
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