How to Organize your Computer

Living in a mess can be a challenge, and even if your home is clean down to the last washed window, turning on your computer can make your blood pressure rise if all of your most important files aren’t saved in a logical place and you can’t find what you need when you actually need it. Having your computer organized saves a great deal of time as you’re working and it saves you a lot of headaches as well.

Of course, there are hundreds of things someone can do to organize their computing life, not to mention hundreds of apps and utilities designed to make the task easier.  Our goal isn't to list them all here, but instead, to address that all-important question, Where do I start?

These top five are the key points of cleaning a computer - not just what's inside the system but outside too.  If you're facing a task of cleaning house, here's the first step.

1.  Organize Media

Organize Media Files with Windows Media Center

The latest version of Windows Media Player is a powerful program that allows you to work with all of your media files in easily-accessible folders. To get started, simply open Windows Media Center and click on the area you want to work in first. For example, you might select Pictures and Videos.


Inside the picture library, you can sort through all of the pictures stored on your computer. You can create new folders, organize the pictures by adding tags and moving pictures around quickly while keeping them visible.

Give the folders you’re creating descriptive names and be sure that all of your pictures and videos are stored in the same parent folder, such as My Pictures. This will make it easy to find pictures when you want them and it will also make it easier to back up those pictures on a separate drive.

Your music files can be organized in the same way using folders and tags to clean them up according to genre or even playlists.

2. See What you Need to See

Clear Your Desktop

A few new folders can go a long way in sorting through your desktop. If you have a cluttered desktop, you’re going to have a hard time finding what you need when you need it. If you have a few different categories of things on your desktop, perhaps shortcuts to Office programs, links to your favorite websites or various programs that you use for work on a daily basis, organize these into folder. Simply create a few new folders on your desktop and drag and drop the files into the folders to get them off your desktop.

Delete any shortcuts or files that are just taking up space and not useful, but be sure to backup any files you choose to delete beforehand - just in case. Ten minutes into this particular project, you’ll have a clean desktop with only a few carefully labeled folders that allow you to get where you need to be without searching all over your screen for a single program.

3.  Straighten up your Presence Online

Organize Your Bookmarks

Organizing bookmarks can be done in a few different ways. If you use a social bookmarking site like Delicious, you’ll have not only your bookmarks, but everyone else’s, too. You can easily see and organize your own bookmarks through social bookmarking, but you might want something a bit more contained, such as the My Favorites in Internet Explorer.

Every time you choose to bookmark a website, it shows up under My Favorites in the upper right corner of the browser under the star. If you have a special toolbar installed, like the Google Toolbar, you can save bookmarks there as well. Regardless of which menu you’re using to capture bookmarks, you can organize them by creating new folders and then labeling the folders carefully. Drag and drop the bookmarks into the folders according to your labels and you’ll be able to find everything you need quickly and be able to store new bookmarks in the correct place as you save them.

4. Cleaning out the Closet

Sort through Your Computer Accessories and Booklets

If you’re like most of us, all of the extra books, brochures, software and cables that came with your computer and printer and scanner and headphones and microphone and camera are all tossed into a big drawer somewhere in case you need them someday. In fact, you might have thrown all of your latest computer extras in with the computer extras you’ve been saving for the last ten years or so. It’s hard to know what to do with all of those items, but you can get yourself a bit more organized.

Invest in a flat file box or a magazine holder. Sort through all of the brochures and booklets to find the ones that are still in use today. If you don’t have the computer any more that matches a booklet, toss it. If you do, simply stash it in the box along with any required software. Cables can go into a different box along with any peripherals that you might have as well.

A few flat file boxes can hold these items well, have a special spot to label and then fit nicely stacked onto a bookshelf where you can read the labels, grab them with ease and use the booklet when you need it instead of digging around hoping you still have it somewhere.

5. Clear up Communication

Clean Out Your Email

Email is a way of life, but inboxes tend to stay messy. Spend an afternoon sorting through your inbox and creating folders for important messages so that you can find them quickly. You can use a search feature in your inbox to identify all of the various messages from particular friends or clients. Simply create a folder for each contact, or create a single folder for contacts within a particular category and transfer all of the important emails into that area.

Delete all of the junk messages and old emails that aren’t useful. When you’re finished with your inbox, move over to your sent folder and delete emails you don’t need or archive them into folders as necessary to clear the way for new material. Finally, create email rules to help keep your inbox organized in the future. You can do this by following the instructions for Microsoft Outlook here.

The instructions on the Microsoft Office page will help you set rules and keep your email organized so that you don’t have clutter and you can find what you need immediately. It also helps you back up files as necessary.