As much as we talk about this, you must be thinking we made it up! National Computer Clean Out Day officially started in 2000 and has been observed on the 2nd Monday of February ever since. Of course, at TechRestore, we celebrate and promote this passionately and frequently!

We have written many, many blogs on the subject and have a backup/cleanup special a few times a year. Here are just a few of our posts:

• Easy Ways to Improve Mac Performance (Part 1 and Part 2)
• Resolve to Protect Your Data (from just a few weeks ago!)
• Time to Upgrade the Storage on Your Mac? (from 2017!)

How does one observe this National Day?

• Break up with your EXEs! Your “.exe” files, of course. Use the disk utility tool for Mac (see the Performace blog part 1). This will let you easily see and remove temporary internet files, old programs, and junk from your downloads folder.
• Back. It. UP! Please, please back up your data. Modern technology and techniques can recover just about anything these days, but nothing is less costly than a good backup. External drives and cloud backups are easy and inexpensive to set up.
• Protect against malware. The best defense is a good .. DEFENSE! There are so many free and low-cost malware protections. Most browsers (like Chrome and Safari) have extra protection built-in, too. In the end, YOU are your best defender. Watch out for suspicious email, pop-ups and website redirections. Don’t click what you don’t know!

The benefits of cleaning out your computer are immediate and gratifying.

• It helps you stay organized. Even if you only do it once a year, it helps! Cleaning out what you don’t need (ever taken pictures of your pocket by accident and not deleted them because it was too much effort? No? Just us?), removing old programs and unneeded downloads keeps your storage open for the really important stuff.
• It speeds up your computer! Less “weight” equals faster performance. In our two-part performance blog, we go into a lot more detail about this.

Need help? HEY! That’s what we’re here for! Whether you have a Mac or a PC, we have a backup-cleanup-storage bundle just right for you. Call, come by or email us for more information.

Happy National Clean Out Your Computer Day!