Saturday, January 23, 2016

2016 DIGITAL SPECIAL .......8 ways to get your digital life together

8 ways to get your digital life together


The new year is a perfect time to clean-up and reorganise your digital clutter

Over time, we all have a tendency to accumulate a lot of dig ital clutter -all those docu ments, photos and programs -on phones and PCs. While excess clutter can slow both you and your devices down, the new year is a great time to take stock and clean-up the mess for a fresh start. To begin the digital clean-up process, start with the following:
Set up a backup service
Having a backup service is like having insurance for your digital data. Find a reliable backup service that will work well for your situation. While setting it up, take the time to customise all the settings and options to your needs.  let it run. Your first backup may take a few hours. When it's finished, don't forget to test it.

Run a tune-up utility
If it's been a while since you last gave your computer a tune-up (or if you've never done one), start your new year with it. Take a few minutes to read through the instructions, or watch a video tutorial so that you understand exactly what will be cleaned up and tuned up before you run the tool. Then execute the tune-up.

Clean up your passwords
Get a password manager. It's even more important than backing up your files. A password manager is your key to greater online safety and security. There are half a dozen excellent password managers and a few of them have a free level of service, so you can try out some and decide which one you like best.

Sweep your inbox
Your email inbox is a mess. You know it. So what are you going to do about it? Here's a simple trick. Sweep your inbox. Instead of deleting or archiving any of your emails, just sweep it out of sight. You can tend to the old messages whenever you want, or even pull a few essential ones when needed. The point is you have created a blank slate of your inbox and it will make you feel so much better about email.

Get a handle on your finances
Is one of your new year's resolutions to get on top of your finances? Start by signing up for Mint. Depending on how many financial accounts you have, getting started could take half an hour or more, but it's well worth doing. The beauty of Mint is that it also looks at the history of how you've spent your money and what income you've earned.
Clean up your phone Cleaning up your phone doesn't take that long to do. Start by changing your password, passphrase or secret draw ing. Also, add an emergency contact to your lock screen. Those two steps are the most important ones. Next, of fload photos and videos. Move them to a cloud or backup drive. Finally, dump your mobile browser's cache and delete old text messages. Update your LinkedIn account and resume
At least once a year, every career-minded person should update his or her resume and LinkedIn profile. On LinkedIn, update your profile picture with an image of yourself that's appropriate for your industry, bearing in mind that some sectors appreciate seeing personality, style and charisma, and others really do not. Add achievements, skills you've learned and new bullet points that illustrate successes and new responsibilities you've earned in the past 12 months.

Renew your playlists
No matter what music service or podcast catching app you use, a fresh way to start the year is by taking stock of what you have and rearrange it how you want. You might decide to clean up iTunes, tidy up your playlists or unsubscribe from some infotainment channels. Usually, this chore might seem like a poor use of your time, but it can actually give you a great head start for the year ahead.
in.pcmag.com


ETP4jan16

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