4 All Memory Blog

I’ve seen so many people let their desktops get bloated with files and folders; it’s a miracle that they can find anything on their computers. Are you one of those people? Take a quick glance at your desktop. How many icons do you have on there? Do you have a handful of icons or do you have a flood of files and programs taking up space? Unless you’ve put effort into your organization strategy of your files and folders, you are probably in desperate need of a desktop and “My Documents” overhaul.

There are several ways to do this, but first you should set aside a block of time out of your day to get this done. It’s no quick task if you want it done right. I did this a few months back and it took me close to an hour and a half but it was so worth it! You know that feeling you get after you clean your entire house top to bottom? This is almost as good.

Your first step is to understand that your desktop should be a starting point to find your files. This should not be the main storage location for your documents. The most common place to keep documents is in you’re My Documents folder. This is the default location that your computer wants to save your files. However, you shouldn’t dump everything in there either; you should create a folder hierarchy.

To determine a good folder hierarchy for your needs, you should determine what your usage for your folders will be. If you do your work is segmented by date, make folders by date (year, month, specific date). If you need things segmented by clients, do so. Students, you might want to create folders for each of your classes (Subject, Specific Class).

However, keep in mind that you don’t want to have 200 folders in you’re my Documents with only a few files in each one. You should use sub-folders. I would recommend that your sub-folders be clearly named so things aren’t too hard to find. Being too specific can cause as much confusion and loss of files as having no organization at all. Common sense is key.

Some good examples of basic folders are: Work, Personal and School. Within each folder you should have more sub folders. For example, in your Personal folder you might have subfolders like: Finances, Vacation, Family, House, Music, etc. Within each sub-category can be other folders (or sub-sub-categories):

Again, don’t get overly specific, but by segmenting your files (by client, course, event, year or even month), you can quickly and easily navigate your computer.

Another idea to help keep your files on your computer to a minimum is store specific things on high capacity flash drives. Do you have a lot of pictures from that family vacation in 2006? Or all those holiday events this past year? Get a flash drive, label it and save your files and pictures from the vacation or those events there. That way, you have all your information available but not taking up excess storage on your computer. You never want to delete documents because you never know when you may need them again. Trust me, I’ve found this out the hard way.

Remember, these are merely suggestions on how to help you organize your computer. The way you decide to do so is completely up to you.