To keep your networks and systems running as smoothly as possible, you will need to maintain and optimize them year-round. This maintenance will help your networks and the computers that use them running smoothly at all times. 

However, sometimes we can let these essential maintenance steps fall to the wayside and build up into a problematic situation.

Whether you plan on following these maintenance steps every day or one every 3-6 months, take these steps to keep your systems running as smoothly as possible.

Get Rid of Old Documents

Step one in clearing up your local storage is to look for any files you know you won’t need and delete them. Start in your “Downloads” folder as this is where almost all of your data will be if you don’t sort them into a long-term folder. Most of the files here will be unimportant, so deleting files from here is a great place to start cleaning your system.

Also, look out for duplicate files and documents. Duplication can happen as a file gets downloaded multiple times, or a document gets revised several times.

Be careful with deleting documents. Your organization may require all revisions of documents to be kept on file. Make sure this isn’t the case before you go deleting documents.

Delete Unused Apps and Browser Extensions

Unused apps can take up more space than one would think, and they can slow your system down if they get stored in your system memory when you turn your computer on. Use your system’s uninstaller to get rid of these apps.

Unused browser extensions can also slow down your system, especially web browsing sessions. Worse, they can also interfere with how websites are displayed.

Running outdated apps and browser extensions can also open your system up to security vulnerabilities. Get rid of your unused apps and extensions immediately, especially if the vendor is no longer releasing updates.

Move Critical Documents to the Cloud

Moving your critical documents to the cloud helps you clean up your storage, and you also create a backup if something happens to your local files.

The more you can store your documents onto a secure cloud server, the more prepared you’ll be in case of significant changes to your IT infrastructure.

These simple things are easy to do, but they’re also easy to put off until they become huge problems for your system and your network. Take some time out weekly to audit your documents, apps, and browser extensions to keep the computer systems on your network in top shape at all times.