43 Folders

Back to Work

Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

Join us via RSS, iTunes, or at 5by5.tv.

”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

new laptop

Hi everybody, I'm a newbie to this forum tho I've been logging in and reading stuff for a while now. I have been trying to "declutter" my own home for a couple of years and have been following Merlin's thread on that theme.

I've just bought myself a new laptop and I love it (tho' I'm ashamed to say it's a PC not Mac in this august company!) Taking advice from various sources I elected to saty with Windows XP rather than the slightly queasy-making Vista and I'm very happy with the hardware and general set-up.

What is bothering me is not wanting to clag up this machine with a lot of computer "clutter". I'm a sucker for information, a complete gadfly when it comes to interests in things, and I can spend many a happy hour leapfrogging around the "Interweb" (!) because there is so much out there and so much of the world is fascinating. All the same I don't want to end up bookmarking a million sites, signing up for endless e-newsletters and all that kind of thing I can so easily scatter my time on. And I certainly don't want to transfer all the thousands of files from the old computer onto here "just in case" I'd find some of them useful sometime.

So does anyone have any experience to share on how you can keep a 'putie clean and lean as it were? Or any "don't do this" tips to pass on for evaluation?

thanks guys love the site(s)

direwolf's picture

Re: new laptop

argh, yes, I made exactly the same mistake with Outlook Express & Yahoo Mail. I think if you set OE to 'leave mail on server' it might (possibly) solve that one.

GMail can be set to archive mail after it's been accessed via POP3.

If you can do the same with your house (something I'm trying to do...) then you should be disciplined enough to do it with your PC.

Whether that's setting a monthly reminder to 'clear up' various folders (My Docs etc) or making an effort not to accumulate so much digital detritis in the first place.

I know it's easy to let slide as it still looks like the same box and takes up the same physical space whether it's completely clean or crammed with stuff.

 
EXPLORE 43Folders THE GOOD STUFF

Popular
Today

Popular
Classics

An Oblique Strategy:
Honor thy error as a hidden intention


STAY IN THE LOOP:

Subscribe with Google Reader

Subscribe on Netvibes

Add to Technorati Favorites

Subscribe on Pageflakes

Add RSS feed

The Podcast Feed

Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »