Computer Cleanup Challenge: Declutter Your PC in Less Than 10 Minutes

In the perfect world, computers would always be fast, your files and folders would stay organized, and your productivity would never drop. Unfortunately, things don’t work out that way. Just like cars, computers need regular cleanup and maintenance to stay fast and clean. But let’s face it - nobody really has the time to perform computer cleanup regularly because there’s a misconception that it takes too much time. But actually, you can declutter your computer in less than 10 minutes. Are you up for the challenge? Let’s begin!

Step 1: Close All Running Apps

To make sure your PC cleanup efforts bring the best results, close all running applications. This will immediately free up system resources and maximize the power of the decluttering tools we’re going to use. If you don’t feel like shutting down everything, at least close your browser, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, email client, and MS Office documents. It’s also a great idea to check your taskbar for any apps running in the background.

Step 2: Perform Disk Cleanup

Now it’s time to remove useless temporary and cache files from your computer. Don’t worry, it’s really easy because Windows has a built-in disk cleanup tool. To use it, do the following:

1. Open file explorer, click on “This PC”, right-click on your disk drive icon and click on “Properties…”
2. Click on the “Disk Cleanup” button to open the disk cleanup utility.
3. Check what it’s going to clean and, if all looks good, click OK to run the cleanup.
4. You can also click on the “Clean up system files” button if you’re logged in as administrator. That will remove unneeded files created by Windows when it was downloading updates and so on.

Step 3: Uninstall Unused Software

It’s astonishing how a computer can get cluttered with all types of software apps in just a short time! There are so many apps out there and it’s so tempting to try them out that we often install stuff only to open it once and never use it again. Removing the apps you don’t use will help you to recover precious disk space and free up system resources to make your PC faster. Here’s how you can uninstall programs on Windows 10:

1. Click on the “Start” button, go to “Settings” and then go to “Apps & Features”
2. Click on the app you want to remove and select “Uninstall”

Step 4: Clean Out Duplicate Photos, Songs, Videos and Documents

Now that your computer is free of junk files and unused software, it’s time to organize all your files. The best way to do that quickly is to use Easy Duplicate Finder to find and remove duplicate documents, music files, videos, photos, emails and more.

When you have too many duplicate files, it’s only too easy to start editing the wrong document, get annoyed by the same song playing over and over again. Deleting them has two main benefits: you’ll free up lots of disk space and you’ll get rid of unintentionally made copies of your files that make things confusing.

Easy Duplicate Finder is the fastest duplicate finder out there and it’ll be able to help you to get rid of all kinds of duplicate files in no time. The best part is that it lets you bulk-select the files you want to delete and remove them in one click. It’s that easy!

Your ten minutes are up! Did you make it? Remember to declutter your PC regularly and it will stay fast, responsive and organized.