The Iglu Guide | Blog
5 ways to spring-clean your digital life
Spring is almost over, but there’s still time to have a really good clean out – starting with our guide to quick and easy ways to spring clean your space.
Getting rid of stuff we no longer use is a great way to declutter our busy lives – but don’t just limit yourself to what you see around you. Lurking inside our smartphones and devices are years’ worth of digital data, old email accounts and forgotten passwords. It’s a hacker’s paradise sitting right there in your hand – and just because you can’t physically see it, that doesn’t mean it can’t hurt you.
If you’re interested in cleaning up your act as well as protecting your identity and privacy, here’s what you need to know to live your best online life.
Streamline your storage
If you’re finding your device runs a little sluggishly and seems overworked, it’s definitely time to clean up your storage. Not only will this enable it to operate more efficiently, you’ll actually be helping the environment at the same time.
Uninstall unused apps: Delete any large files or unused apps – you can always re-access them if you need to – as these simply suck energy out of the digital process. Always make sure your files are backed up elsewhere before you press delete.
Discard temporary files: Websites have a nasty habit of leaving a trail of files behind them such as cookies, images, and text files. This makes for a great experience if you’re a regular visitor, but not so much if you never go back. Discard any temporary files stored on your phone by accessing settings and clearing the history and data from your internet browser. Do the same on your computer by following the relevant browser instructions.
Purge your photos: Clean out old photos that you have already stored safely on an external hard drive, and make sure that any photos of credit cards or driver’s licenses on your camera roll are fully deleted from your devices.
Secure your privacy
Never before have we lived more of our lives online. Unfortunately, this means there is a great deal of personal information hanging around in the ether – unless you take appropriate steps to protect it.
Check your settings: Go through the settings on all your apps and social media and pay particular attention to any permissions you are allowing to third parties. If they are collecting your data, it may leave you vulnerable.
Review your passwords: Make sure you are using strong and unique passwords that are different for each account. Use a password manager to help you do this and make sure you have set up multifactor authentication
Maximise your efficiency
As we increasingly rely on our digital systems to support us, it’s ever more important that they run as quickly and efficiently as possible. Organising your files and streamlining your email will help your system behave more responsively and work more quickly.
Update your apps: Having deleted and unsubscribed from any apps you no longer use, it’s time to update the ones you have left. Make sure you are running on the latest software so that your apps can operate at their best, improving efficiencies and helping protect your privacy.
Delete sensitive emails: Emails inevitably contain a multitude of personal information not only about you, but also about family and friends. Make a bulk purge by searching by keyword or certain numbers, and permanently delete anything you no longer need.
Back up your data
Always make sure you are backing up to an external drive. It’s easy to get complacent with swanky new machines, but accidents can happen, and even new technology can fail on occasion. Avoid the trauma and upset of lost work by setting your computer up to make automatic backups. That way, you can sleep easy knowing that all your hard work is safe and secure.
Clean up your filing system
Most of us find it difficult to work in a cluttered environment, yet you’d be surprised at how many of us do it in our digital lives. Busy desktops are a classic way to slow down your operating system, with lots of energy already wasted simply by starting up your computer.
Limit your desktop shortcuts: Keep your desktop looking as lean and clean as possible, and limit shortcut links to the programs you use most frequently. Every program can be accessed just as quickly through the standard menus.
Streamline your folders: Take a good look at your filing system and create space by being brutal with every document. Delete any files you haven’t viewed or needed in a long time, as well as any that hold sensitive information. Make folders for the rest so that you know exactly what you have and exactly where to find it. Lastly, make sure your personal information is safely stored in the one place.
Delete the big beasts: Check in on your storage settings and make sure you are happy with everything that is there. Any gigantic files sucking up your operating energy are on a one-way ticket to the trash can.
Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash
