How to Clean or Clear Your Computer, Phone, and Inbox

It would help if you regularly clean the outside of your computer. That will help keep out dirt that can build up over time.

You will also need to perform a digital clean up to keep your computer running smoothly. The easiest trick is to empty the Recycle Bin. If you are a Mac user, it is the Trash icon. This is where all the deleted files go.

You should also delete temporary files, which your system creates as backups if the document does not save properly. You can perform these tasks manually or save time and automate them.

How to Delete Temporary Files in Windows

Take advantage of a native Windows 10 feature called Storage Sense. Once you activate it, it monitors your device and automatically frees up space. It even removes junk files when your computer is low on space.

To enable it, follow these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click System.
3. Select Storage.
4. Enable Storage Sense by sliding the option to the right.

How to Delete Temporary Files on a Mac

It uses a built-in feature called Optimize Storage. Save space on your device by storing content in iCloud. It also has built-in tools that find and remove large or unnecessary files.

1. Head to the Apple menu.
2. Open About This Mac.
3. Select Storage.
4. Click Manage. This takes you to the Storage Management window.
5. Click Optimize.

How to Clean your Phone

Your computer is not the only device that can accumulate a mountain of junk files. It is also easy to overwhelm the storage space on your phone, for example, if you have too many photos in your gallery.

Do not forget your contact list too. Before buying a new phone, you had to import the contacts manually. Now, if you are like most, you will clean up your contact list on the fly.

When you update your smartphone, all your old files will carry over. That means you can quickly amass far more contacts than you need.

If you have an Android, go to Google Contacts. Once you are in, click “Duplicates” to see all the duplicate contacts you need to merge. It is a great time saver.

If you are an iPhone user, you can try an app inside your phone called Clean Duplicate Contacts.

Do Not Forget to Clean your Inbox

Try this tip if you are one of those people with 5,000 unread emails, and it gives you the creeps.

Open an email from someone that you no longer want to receive. Copy the email address and look for it in your inbox. All emails from that sender will appear once, and you can delete them in bulk. Do not forget to leave one so you can unsubscribe from the mailing list.
Bonus Tip: If you see absolute junk or spam, please mark it as spam. The more information you give your email provider, the better job it will do of blocking these emails in the future. Also, check your spam folder and make sure nothing you want to see has ended up there.