Learn How To ‘Deep Clean’ Your Windows PC And MacBook
There was a time when laptops and computers were a luxury only owned by the select few. But with each passing day, it became a necessity rather than a luxury. And the 2020 lockdown has made us realise that laptops and computers have become a bare necessity for everyone from office workers to school and college students. Considering the significance that these devices hold, I feel it is high time that we returned back the favour and took proper care of these devices by deleting all of those junk files and unnecessary data.
So here are the steps to properly clean your Windows PC and Macbook:
In case of Windows 10 PC:
Open your Windows 10 PC and go to the ‘Settings’. After going to the ‘Settings’, select the ‘Storage’ option. After selecting the ‘Storage’ option, browse through the files present on your computer. Look for the files that are occupying the most space in the computer and select the ones that you don’t really need. Delete these selected files. It is recommended for the users to start browsing through files that might contain movies, videos and other such files instead of documents. After all, these files tend to take up more space on the computer and there is little to no use in saving them when they can be easily found on various streaming platforms on the Internet like YouTube or Netflix.
The next step for a thorough cleanup for your PC would be to go to the ‘Settings’ again. After going to the ‘Settings’, select ‘Apps and features’ and browse through all the apps that are present on the computer. In case you do not diligently delete your apps on a regular basis, you would be shocked to find out the number of apps present on your computer that serves little to no purpose. Along with that, Windows PC also comes with some pre-installed apps that may be of no use to the user. Sift through these files and delete the ones that you do not need. Further, the user should select the option of disk cleanup. This function will clean up all the temporary files present in the storage and optimise your PC’s memories. Users can also reduce the size of the WinSxS folder but do not make the mistake of deleting the entire folder as it may damage your computer and make it difficult for you to restart or update your computer again. This WinSxS folder has the windows component store files that are necessary to run various functions on the computer and customise or update the Windows.
If you happen to use cloud services like Google Drive or OneDrive for the storage purposes then, make sure to save your files online as there is no point in having the exact same file both on your computer as well as the cloud.
In the case of MacBooks:
If you happen to own a MacBook instead of a Windows PC, then select the Apple icon on the top left corner of the screen and choose ‘About This Mac’ from the drop-down menu that appears. Further, select ‘Storage’ and then click on ‘Manage’. It will take you to the list of apps and files present on your computer. You can select the files and apps that you don’t really use or need anymore and choose to delete them. If there are files on your computer that are important but take up too much space, you can back them up on the cloud.
There is also the option of ‘Reduce Clutter’ present in this menu that will help you select and delete the files that you don’t need in a better way.
Users can also go to ‘Downloads’ and browse through the files to find the files that they don’t really need anymore and delete them. In the case of apps, users can scroll through ‘All My Files’ and select the unwanted apps and delete them.