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How To Clean Up Your Electronic Mess (Spring Data Cleaning!)

April 11, 2014

Spring tech cleaning isn’t sexy, but it feels good to get it done. I clean the piles that have accumulated on my desktop and delete the tasks that have gathered dust for more than a year because I am obviously never going to get to them. I also delete e-mail and server folders that are no longer needed, especially those related to old conferences that tend to hold large PDF and PowerPoint files.

I consider software upgrades—Adobe Acrobat 11 is a clear winner this year, with newfound ability to cleanly convert PDFs to editable Word documents.

Finally, I cull my big laptop bag that has accumulated all manner of cords, chargers, airline bags of almonds, flash drives (that seem to populate like bunnies), conference swag I will never use and an astonishing number of paper clips. And, inexplicably, a $50 bill that will feed the insatiable appetite of the Wheel of Fortune machine when I lecture in Vegas later this month.