Clean, Organize, and Find Large Files on Mac and Windows.
If you are like me, you have files sitting in all sorts of weird places on your computer. The may have been organized at one point but now they mostly dwell in areas not often looked at. Cleaning up your computer can be simple and easy.
How to easily clean your computer:
- Using Applications
- Staying Organized
- Defraging Hard Drive
Absolute best way to clear space on your computer is to find large files that take up significant space on your hard drive and delete them. Most are unnecessary files that you have downloaded over time. Perhaps videos, music, or picture files. All this media is what fills up hard drives and makes them perform slower.
Applications for finding large files on your hard drive
Disk Inventory X - This utility for mac graphically displays your large files and directories. It is very simple and helpful in managing and optimizing your hard drive. There is a free and paid version. Disk Inventory X Website- JDiskReport – Another windows, java, and mac utility. Works well to find files with a pie chart visualization. I recommend this one over the other windows program. But Disk Inventory X is the best for mac. JDiskReport Website
- Moleskinsoft – This disk utility for windows finds files and folders with large file sizes. It scans all your directory’s for the largest files to analyze and manage your disk space. There is a free and paid version. MoleskinSoft Website
Staying organized helps save disk space
There is not a standard or exact method of organizing your files. My personal rule is to create folders for most everything. Either by event, dates, or types. I typically have my folders per client, project and/or date (as an example). A good rule of thumb is to make a new folder if you have over 20-30 files already in that folder. Clear out and delete temporary internet files. Remove unused programs.
Defrag (Windows only)
If you are running windows it maybe time for a defrag. There is an article from Microsoft about how to do it in Windows XP. If you’re running windows 7, it will be similar. Microsoft Article About Defrag
No related posts.
Try Directory Report
http://www.file-utilities.com
It looks just like the MS-Explorer but always shows the folder size
Plus
It has another window which shows you all your files in descending size order