National Clean Out Your Computer Day
Celebrate National Clean Out Your Computer Day by deleting old files, accounts and installing new malware. An elderly woman reads on a screen during a computer workshop in the 'digital bus ('bus numerique') in Villandraut, near Sauternes, southwestern France, on May 22, 2018. - The 'digital bus ('bus numerique') has been launched by the CARSAT (French Pension insitution - Caisse d'assurance retraite et de la sante au travail) of Aquitaine region at the end of 2016 to promote computer and internet access for elderly people. Getty Images/GEORGES GOBET

If you are experiencing some major delays with your computer, today is the day for you. Monday is National Clean Out Your Computer Day, and there is no day better than today to get your computer back up to speed. Try these helpful PC and Mac Tips to clean out your computer and restore it to its former high-speed glory.

Remove Unused Files

Your computer is littered with files that you no longer use that are taking up space on your hard drive. Now is the time to delete those downloaded files, temporary internet files, and old programs you no longer use. These files are just taking up space and preventing your computer from running at its optimum speed. Mac users can utilize the disk utility tool while PC users can perform a disk cleanup for Windows to see the files that you are no longer using but are occupying space on your computer.

Backup Files

Now that you have removed the files you no longer want, you’ll want to make sure that you keep the ones that you do. Today is the ideal time to back up all the files on your computer in case that rainy day strikes and you lose everything that you have worked so hard to create . Make a copy of your computer’s data on an external hard drive or for an easier solution, back it up to the cloud. This will allow you to have a backup plan that can save you during a computer meltdown.

Update Malware

Let Monday be the day that you update your antivirus software, so your computer is not exposed to a security threat or breach. You need to ensure you are running the latest malware protection on your computer to keep up with the plethora of viruses that are looking to attack your PC or Mac. You can go a step further by deleting any suspicious emails from your inbox and creating filters to catch those spam messages that may be tempting to click on. The more you can protect your computer from these threats, the better prepared your computer will be to face a security attack.

Delete Old User Accounts

You may have created some user accounts in the past for family members and friends to use. While this is a beneficial way to let someone have access to your computer and not your files, it can cause your computer to slow during startup. Delete any user accounts that are no longer active and clear up that space on your hard drive for the files that you really want and need. This will boost the performance of your computer and make it easier and quicker to operate too.

Update Software

The programs that you use on a regular basis may need a little TLC, and this means that you need to download the latest and greatest software updates for your Mac and PC. Not only will this give you new features in the software program but it will also help your computer operate faster. Plus, it won’t be exposed to viruses as easily, giving your computer better security and performance as well.

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