A quirky bit of mindfulness can help declutter your mind – so National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day is always a welcome day for many people. On the third Monday of October, we are encouraged to give our computers a little TLC, often much needed. The folders and files are often as random as can be, which is bad news since a clean desk is a clean mind, so the virtual type is not going to be any different.

What Is National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day?

Let’s face it, cleaning isn’t fun, and neither is organizing files. Still, to prolong the lifespan of your laptop or computer, keeping everything tidy can be a good idea. It all comes down to the Personal Computer Museum in Ontario, Canada, who came up with the idea. It is to the benefit of everyone since fewer files on your computer means more RAM. This will speed the device up. So, anyone who finds that their computer takes an age to load at any time will benefit.

Also, the process will clear up more space for the important files you are going to create in the future. The history of the day itself isn’t so easily traced, but we know that the day hasn’t been going for long. Still, it is arguably one of the most useful to get involved with – your computer would thank you for it if it could.

How To Observe National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day

To get truly involved, start with the files you know you no longer need or use. One of the easiest places to start is with the music. There will be tracks that you haven’t listened to for many months, possibly years. Deleting these can clear up a lot of room to get the benefits of a faster computer and more space.

This is also a good time to back up important files. Those old family memories might only be on your desktop, so why not save them to an external hard drive or USB stick, or even upload them to the cloud? Once this is done, they can be deleted from the computer.

Sometimes it can be as simple as organizing the folders to make sense of your desktop. If you haven’t been able to see the screensaver image behind the files for a long time, then this clean-up is long overdue.

While you are there – clean out the old emails. Unsubscribe from anything you never look at and then get started on the phone. There are always apps that are idle and never used, especially games that take up a lot of space. Those photos that you have multiple versions of? Delete the ones you don’t like or need.

To remind others to do the same, why not use the hashtag #NationalCleanYourVirtualDesktopDay and spread the word. Tell your friends about it as it can help them clear up some space and make their computer faster so next time you are trying to get them on a video call, they will also have a computer that works better.