New Years Checklist: Digital Clean Up

Wow, in two days 2007 will have come around and another year in our lives will have passed. Our lives are stressful enough without having the computer creating even more stress, so here is a quick New Years checklist to get yourself organized, ready, and prepared for 2007.

cleandesktop.jpg

Clear your inbox to zero messages

You can use some of my tips to get organized with your Mail application in this post. This will help reduce stress and the only Mail in your inbox will be from the New Year.

Tidy your desktop, leaving only devices

Clear up all the clutter on your desktop by filing items to their applicable folder/s. This will give you a clean working space to begin the year with.

Organize your dock

Scan your dock and drag out any applications you use very rarely. If you have applications in your dock that you dont use much, but still want super fast access too, consider installing OverFlow. Another task to complete is zapping un-used applications with AppZapper.

Review your contacts

Pop open Address Book, Adium, and iChat; to review all your contacts, deleting ones you no longer need or are not in contact with anymore. In iChat and Adium, create groups for your contacts based on importance, which will make it much easier to scan and see who’s online.

Clean up your iTunes playlists

Most iTunes users will have dozens and dozens of playlists, these are very handy at times but can slowly clutter up your sidebar. Sort through each and every one of your playlists removing what you can. Another cool thing to do with iTunes is create a “Best Of 06″ Smart Playlist. The criteria being: Year 2006, Rating 5. This will group all the tracks in your library that were released in 2006 and are rated 5 stars.

RSS Reader tidy up

Go through your RSS reader and delete any blogs you dont particularly like anymore, or ones that haven’t been updated in a long time. If you dont have too many items to delete, create a folder system for your feeds which will help you sort through them more quickly.

Backup your data

On a final note, the worst thing that can happen to you is data loss - so backup now! Buy yourself an external hard-drive and archive/backup all your documents, pictures, movies, and sites from the previous year using a tool such as SuperDuper! If you dont want to fork out for a new HDD, connect your iPod to your computer and drag your most important data onto it’s icon; this will create a copy of it on your iPod to use as a backup.

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To celebrate the New Year let’s have a little fun, once you are finished organizing, upload a picture of your desktop to Flickr and post a link in the comments below.

I’ll randomly select someone to win a free copy of a training video for an Apple application (thats all the details I will provide..) which is currently in the works.

2006 was a great year for myself, it’s been a pleasure getting to know you all and hopefully teaching you a few things along the road. 2007 will be a big year, not only for me but for Apple. I cant wait to see whats in store - see you in 2007. Happy New Year.

Update:The three winners for the copy of a secret training video are: Mike Vitoroulis, Smaran, and tomnook10.

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Comments

  1. #1

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    Let’s have a little fun, once you are finished organizing, upload a picture of your desktop to Flickr and post a link here.

    I’ll randomly select someone to win a free copy of a training video for an Apple application (thats all the details I will provide..) which is currently in the works.

  2. #2

    William Wilkinson → www.williamwilkinson.com

    http://flickr.com/photos/williamspictures/335923122/

    Theres my desktop of my new Powerbook :)

  3. #3

    Bartosh Grzyb → www.grzybu.webd.pl

    Me desktop almost every time looks like this. I don’t like many icons on it. Here, take a look:

    http://flickr.com/photos/grzybu/338297130/

  4. #4

    zzap → zzaps.com

    Uhm, it’s not New Years yet!
    But anyways, here’s the desk: http://yasrsly.com/plaindesktopglenn.png

  5. #5

    bernd

    @zzap: link doesn’t work…

    @glenn: did you publish your desk screen already (photo in the post)?

  6. #6

    Robert Day → thispixel.net

  7. #7

    Robert Day → thispixel.net

    Ah crap. HTML didn’t work, here’s the link:

    http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=338344998&size=l

  8. #8

    Smaran → smarandayal.com

    Glenn, I took your advice and have spent the last few hours going through my e-mail. I went through my entire archive and deleted all the unnecessary e-mails. I also cleaned up my inbox and other folders. Phew!

    Now onto my desktop, iTunes etc.

  9. #9

    Mackie → macintalk.com

    Nice post, I spent a few days this month organizing thousands of files into appopriate folders. Finding stuff is much easier now…

    http://flickr.com/photos/mackie/338375745/

  10. #10

    Mike

    Here we go:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/squinoogle/285352961/

    Honest:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/squinoogle/285352962/

  11. #11

    Joe Jacobs

    Hehe, I clean my Mac alll the time! I guess I’m a little OCD about it.

    Here’s the screeny:

    http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=338501891&size=o

  12. #12

    Andrew

    There is no better sense of pride than seeing a clean desktop.

    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/150/338567966_344c641f02.jpg

  13. #13

    Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com

    Glenn, I remember in a screenshot that you had Kinkless, the GTD app on your desktop. Do you or anyone here follow GTD? I’ve just purchased the David Allen book and I’m hoping to get a grasp of it soon.

  14. #14

    Alejandro → alejandro.com

    \/\/\/ Joe! I love your dock! It looks so nice.

    Here’s mine:
    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/138/338628873_1784ccf6a9_o.png

    On a side note, Glenn I think there should be a way to see your favicon in the rss feed so I don’t get the ugly feedburner icon in NewsFire. :) know what I mean?

  15. #15

    wph

    I’m a sucker for new MacWare.

    You got me to clean up my dock. It’s still pretty full, but the widescreen MacBooks makes it work well anyway.

    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/151/338644448_d42da148f4_o.png

  16. #16

    Mike Vitoroulis → www.mikevitoroulis.net

    http://flickr.com/photos/mikevitoroulis/338731000/

    :P

  17. #17

    tomnook10 → web.mac.com/tomnook10

    Clciky Clicky!

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomnook10/338913860/

  18. #18

    Mike

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/80498757@N00/338928110/

  19. #19

    Sidney → sidneylophoto.com

    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/338930543_2556a966c3_o.jpg

    Extreme, but it’s quite effective.

  20. #20

    Daniil

    Decided to post mine since my MacBook is coming Jan 2nd.

    http://www.fototalk.com/viewPrivatePicture.jsp?pid=44870&aid=2382&uid=1

  21. #21

    yannic → yannicwalter.de

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tc4racer/338971044/

    Just setup a new wallpaper/icons

  22. #22

    Frank Lloyd Wright

    How dull must your life be if you have resorted to making lists advising strangers to clean up their own lists? You need to get away from your computer.

    Frank.

  23. #23

    zzap → zzaps.com

    @bernd: Seems to be working fine here.

  24. #24

    Ken Purcell → www.kenpurcell.com

    I’m a new Mac convert so my desktop(s) are still tidy! Mac OSX on a mini with parallels and XP Pro installed. Delicious.

    http://flickr.com/photos/18104074@N00/338998525/

  25. #25

    cbergeron → www.chrisbergeron.com

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/43989744@N00/339028203/

    I use shell scripts to automatically update my wallpaper and weather/traffic overlayed images.

  26. #26

    maluka → www.mustafamaluka.com

    http://flickr.com/photos/maluka/327549374/

    i try to keep mine clean at all times.

  27. #27

    cbergeron

    Ok, my desktop is cleaned up now. Also, you might want to add a tip to clean up your bookmarks as well.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/43989744@N00/339058597/

  28. #28

    dubious

    Always Clean
    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/339081091_3344456248_o.png

  29. #29

    Chris A.

    Here’s my little setup:

    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/339079817_31da5c2c2c_o.jpg

    It’s not much but I love it. Simplicity is key.

  30. #30

    Újévi digitális tisztogatás at BPCITY → www.bpcity.hu/index.php/ujevi-digitalis-tisztogatas

    [...] Ahogy Glenn Wolsey írja, hogy az életünk a számítógépek okozta felesleges stressz nélkül is elég stresszes, így, kihasználva ezt a pár nyugodt napot, készítsük fel gépünket, hogy minél kevesebb felesleges bosszankodást okozzon 2007-ben. [...]

  31. #31

    Cartoons Fans Lounge → www.cartoonsfans.com/blog/2006/12/31/x-men-the-movie-new-years-checklist-digital-clean-up

    [...] story No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTMLallowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> [...]

  32. #32

    Smaran → smarandayal.com

    And finally, here’s mine:

    http://flickr.com/photos/smaran/338796822/
    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/139/338796822_01f333b299_o.jpg

    2006 was indeed fun, Glenn. And it was a pleasure getting to know you and everyone else who’s been commenting here, too. I hope to regain my position as TopReader in the coming year. In mere days we’ll find out about Leopard, iTV and if the iPhone really exists. I can’t wait. I wish I could be there at MacWorld Expo, but sadly, I’m exactly on the other side of the globe with no passport and no plane ticket. :-)

    Cheers.

  33. #33

    Janice → tontamoo.weblogs.us

    Here’s mine.

    http://flickr.com/photos/tontamoo/339386613/

  34. #34

    Kevin Chung

    Here’s mine :]

    Click me

  35. #35

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  36. #36

    bernd

    @zzap: yes, it work’s, now ;) i tried it yesterday and got a error page… who knows why.

  37. #37

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    I’ll announce a winner in 24 hours, so there’s still plenty of time to display your desktop.

  38. #38

    Bart Grzyb → www.grzybu.webd.pl

    My almost all the time look like that: http://flickr.com/photos/grzybu/338297130/

  39. #39

    Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com

    Here you go

    Last desktop of 2006

    Happy new year to everyone

  40. #40

    Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com

    I know how the Kiwis aren’t a big fan of the Aussies Glenn, so I apologize for the desktop picture!

  41. #41

    mmmikex

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelantonio/339496235/

  42. #42

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    Haha, I’m 1/4 Australian Josh ;-)

  43. #43

    Chris → www.vickslife.com

    Here’s mine:

    http://flickr.com/photos/masterc/340097378/

    I like a clean desktop. Everything I download goes into my New Arrivals folder to be sorted.

    Happy New Year, guys!

  44. #44

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    Ah, it’s a new year, I’ll pick 3 winners instead of one.

    The three winners for the copy of a secret training video are: Mike Vitoroulis, Smaran, and tomnook10.

    If you guys could all email me via the Contact Form with your details, I will provide a few more details about the prize. Congratulations.

  45. #45

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  46. #46

    tomnook10 → web.mac.com/tomnook10

    Yay!

  47. #47

    Alex’s Soapbox » Goodbye 2006 → www.thesandbox.net/arm/blog/?p=398

    [...] Taking some hints from Glenn Wolsey, I took 30 minutes to cleanup my computer. The results are refreshing: [...]

  48. #48

    Smaran → smarandayal.com

    Way out! I won. What a lovely way to start the year. :-)

  49. #49

    cupofchai → www.kamu.ch/blog

    Hi Glenn. Here’s my setup. Check out my blog, it’s new, and Apple-influenced :-)

    http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/1686/picture1mf9.png

  50. #50

    Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com

    Congrats on winning you three. Smaran, I’ve used that desktop before and its a great picture. I like you Adium contact list setup as well.

    Disappointed I didn’t win, but there’s always next year!

  51. #51

    Smaran → smarandayal.com

    Thanks, Josh.

    The Adium list style is Aqualicious which I’ve edited to use a black background, dropped the opacity to almost nothing and changed the window style to contact bubbles.

  52. #52

    www.adäquat.at » 1. Jänner: Neujahrsputz, elektronisch → www.xn--adqu-moa.at/?p=5

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  53. #53

    DeathAxe → blog.deathaxe.net

    Chris: Awesome wallpaper :)

  54. #54

    yannic → yannicwalter.de

    Congrats to all the winners.
    By the way: What’s up with the plan of installing forums?

  55. #55

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  56. #56

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  57. #57

    Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com

    @Yannic

    I think Glenn said news about them was coming in the New Year, and he has a lot more planned for the blog. I’d be very interested in a forum here

  58. #58

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    Dropping a quick note, I’ve enabled forums as of a few weeks ago.

  59. #59

    Ramy. → www.flickr.com/ramyphotographie

    There you go!

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramyphotographie/1129920342/

  60. #60

    Blair Beckwith

    I think a new “version” of this post should be posted closer to the end of this year. Also, I tend to do this sort of maintenance a couple times a year.

  61. #61

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  62. #62

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    Nice…

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