Quick tech cleanup: Do this every 3 months

When was the last time you cleaned up your digital life? It’s not fun, but just a few minutes of physical and digital decluttering can work wonders. It boosts productivity, clears mental clutter and leaves you feeling like you’ve done something great. Ready? Let’s do this!

📲 Start with your phone

Quick fix: Look through your apps and delete any you’re not using anymore. If it’s been months, you’re not going to use it. While you’re at it, move apps you want to spend less time using from your phone’s home screen.

On iPhone: Swipe left to get past all your app screens and open the App Library. To delete an app, touch and hold the app’s icon > Delete App, then tap Delete to confirm.

On Android: Open the Google Play Store app, and tap your profile icon. Tap Manage apps & devices > Manage. Select the name of the app you want to delete, then tap Uninstall.

If you have more time: Tackle your photo collection or contacts. Do whichever is the messiest or most aggravating. Neither task is particularly pleasant, but you’ll feel enough satisfaction when you’re done to make up for that. Put in a good podcast (ahem, mine!) and get it done.

Bonus points: Sanitize your phone. You take it to the bathroom with you. Enough said.

📺 Tackle the TV

Quick fix: Dust! Too much junk in all those vents and ports can reduce your TV’s life, so give it a good wipe-down. Clean the back with your vacuum’s brush attachment or an air blower (on sale!). Be prepared to vacuum or sweep up all the dust after you’re done.

Bonus points: Clean the screen. Dust with a microfiber rag first, then very lightly buff away fingerprints. I take the easy route with TV wipes, but a rag with electronics cleaner works, too. It’s easy to use too much pressure standing directly in front of the TV cleaning, so go from the side for a lighter touch.

If you have more time: I once signed up for a free trial of an add-on channel to watch a movie I couldn’t find anywhere else. You can guess what happened. I never watched the movie, but I did pay for six months of Sundance. Time to take inventory of your streaming apps. I use the Rocket Money app* to do it for me.

💻 Finish up with your computer

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How to make sure emails you want to see don't end up lost in spam

Have you ever felt like spam is that one friend who just can’t take a hint? You know, the one who keeps inviting you to their pyramid scheme parties? Out of nowhere, your inbox is flooded with offers of “get rich quick” pitches. Some email providers block these kinds of messages before they cause trouble.

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Computer goals

👩‍💻 “Kim, what are your laptop and desktop recs?” I got you: 

💻 Before you log off: Check out 15 more picks on my new Amazon page to fit your budget and needs.

Windows upgrade: Setting up multiple desktop profiles means you can keep life, work, vacation and your hobbies separate. To make them easy to navigate, customize each. Now you know blue is for work, yellow is for home stuff and orange is for DIY projects.

Your desktop is a mess

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Need some ideas on how to clean it? I’ve got some great tips in this one-minute podcast. 

After 35 years, Microsoft is ditching Publisher: It’s getting the boot in Oct. 2026. Other changes: Look for Microsoft to start bugging you to back up your files to OneDrive if you use Microsoft 365 apps for Windows. And they’re also testing free Office desktop apps that have ads baked in that only let you save docs to OneDrive.

Improve Netflix quality: If your stream looks pixelated, your video settings might be set too low. Log in to Netflix on desktop, click your profile > Account > Edit settings > Playback settings. Change Data usage per screen to High and hit Save. If it starts buffering, run a speed test and switch back to Auto.

Down to business

📅 New week, same desk, unless you upgrade it with these goodies.

😎 Shop my tech picks that are on sale right now!

📺 Watching YouTube at night? Turn on dark mode for some eye comfort. On Desktop, click your profile picture (top right), scroll to Appearance and select Dark theme. On the mobile app, go to Settings > General > Appearance, then tap Dark theme.

💻 Speed up an old PC: Windows 11’s animations and 3D effects can slow down your graphics card. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects and turn off Transparency effects and Animation effects. Your desktop won’t look as fancy, but your computer will run faster. Not a bad trade-off.

🖥️ Clear the clutter: Organize your work into different screens with virtual desktops. On a PC, hit the Windows key + Ctrl + D to create a new desktop. For a Mac, press Ctrl + up arrow to open Mission Control. Then, click + (top right) to add a new space.

🖥️ Show the desktop on a Mac: Shift all your open windows to the side and get to the shortcuts on your desktop by holding down Cmd and pressing F3. Pressing F3 on its own shows you all the windows you have open. Easy‑peasy!

Pro Windows user? Use “God Mode” to access all your Control Panel settings in one place. Just create a new folder anywhere, like on your desktop, and rename it to this exact string: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} Hit “Enter,” and the folder icon will change to a Control Panel icon. Opening this new folder will give you a powerful, centralized view of virtually all settings and configuration options in Windows.

💻 Dock and roll: Turn your laptop into a desktop powerhouse with a docking station. No need for a new computer or dealing with messy cables. This one ($54) has eight ports and supports two monitors. Nice!

Cmd + spacebar: This Mac shortcut opens Spotlight, an incredibly powerful tool for finding documents quickly, opening apps or searching the web right from your desktop.

💻 Such a turnoff: Try Windows’ “shade” shortcut to shut down your PC. Right-click on your desktop and go to New > Shortcut. In the location field, type: %windir%System32SlideToShutDown.exe. Click Next, name the shortcut and hit Finish. Double-click this shortcut to open a pull-down shade at the top of your screen. Drag it to the bottom to power off.

WFP(hone): Google Meet’s Switch here lets you switch from your phone to your desktop without dropping the call. If you’re in a live meeting, click to Join the meeting on your other device, and you’ll see Switch here. Sweet.

🖥️ Keep your Windows desktop private: Whether you want a cleaner look or a little more privacy, you can hide your desktop icons in seconds. Right-click on the desktop > go to View > uncheck Show desktop icons. Want to resize them instead? Just go to View and pick Small, Medium or Large.

A cluttered desktop = a cluttered mind: Do a 30-second cleanup. On Windows: Right-click > New > Folder, then drag everything in. On Mac: Right-click > New Folder, then group files manually or use Stacks to auto-organize. Next time you’re in a boring meeting, sort your folder!

It went data way: Soon, you can send files directly from Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive to ChatGPT rather than saving them to your desktop and uploading them to the AI assistant. There’s a new ChatGPT feature to make sweet interactive charts and tables from your spreadsheets. And there goes another job because of AI.