Calling Nurse Stelter!

Attorney, librarian, neat freak. That's Sandy Stelter of Benicia, California. Stelter helps high-tech pack rats tidy up their computers - right down to the last kilobyte of storage space. She charges between $50 and $75 an hour for an office visit. For us, however, she's giving away three of her most valuable secrets.

Call for Backup

Don't even think about giving your computer a spring cleaning without first copying all the data on it. Backing up saves you from losing a file - and it forces you to swamp out your hard drive. The effort of deciding which files to back up, says Stelter, will yield dozens of items that belong in the trash.

Learn to Say Goodbye

Discard old files and programs that you no longer use. Don't delete only the obvious files. If you use fax-modem software, your hard drive is probably cluttered with old faxes, which suck up vast amounts of disk space. Also, cull through email - and don't limit yourself to the inbox. Stelter regularly trashes copies of old outgoing mail.

Fill the Manila

Most operating systems make it easy to sort data into file folders - though few people do it the right way. Stelter's advice: Create new folders for each major project - and folders within the folders for each task within a project. Then use a directory such as Windows Explorer to display a visual "tree" showing each stage of the work. "Put these folders on your desktop," she advises, "and you'll find them at a glance."

Article from Fast Company: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/13/harddrive.html