Electronic Clutter
When It’s Time to Upgrade
I’m not the kind of person who needs to have the latest, greatest electronics. It’s more my style to hold onto something for as long as possible. I have to have a really good reason to upgrade my device. But sometimes the device tells you when it’s time to be upgraded.
I bought an iPad Pro in 2018. I was about to start a 3-year term on the national Board of Directors of my professional association, NAPO. Since I use a desktop computer, I couldn’t bring along a laptop to the multi-day meeting. I decided that an Pad Pro would be a good substitute, and a lot lighter, too.
Once I had the iPad Pro, I found that there were a lot of other things I could do with it in between board meetings. For example, I had been reading books on a Kindle since late 2011. However, the iPad Pro had a Kindle app that was smoother than the clunky Kindle interface. In 2020, when the pandemic prohibited in-person visits, my personal trainer and I started meeting via FaceTime. We have continued to do our workouts via FaceTime, since he never moved back to New York City.
It was FaceTime that first alerted me that it was time to upgrade, although I didn’t realize that this is what my iPad was telling me. Suddenly, FaceTime didn’t work anymore. I did some internet searches to troubleshoot it, and I tried everything that was recommended. I put hours into trying to get it functional again.
Finally, I admitted defeat and took my iPad to the Geek Squad at Best Buy. The tech expert told me that my iPad was running an older operating system and that’s why Apple wouldn’t allow it to connect to its server to run FaceTime. I was puzzled, as I always kept my iOS and my apps up to date. He explained that my 8-year old iPad was not capable of running a higher operating system.
I saw the handwriting on the wall and went to the Apple Store the next day. I bought an iPad (not even an iPad Pro) and I’m amazed at how great it is. First of all, the camera on this device is fantastic. The quality of the picture and the wide angle of the lens have greatly improved my communication with my trainer. Second, the Kindle app displays so much more of my book than the old iPad did, even though the devices are about the same size. Third, the new one actually remembers my fingerprint, which the old one had stopped doing.
I had a similar experience last year when I bought a new Apple TV box. I bought my first Apple TV box in 2013. It was a great interface for streaming. But over time, the channels I liked started disappearing from my device. I did some research on the newest generation of Apple TVs and decided that I needed to upgrade. Once I had it set up, I was kicking myself for not doing it sooner. The new box is so much easier to use, as is the remote. I held on to that old one for 12 years, which is probably a few years too long.
The guy at Best Buy told me that 6 years is a good time to think about upgrading a device. In retrospect, I realized that I’ve upgraded my iPhone every 4-6 years. Because the iPhone is in my hand every day, doing a lot of different functions, I’m more aware of when it could be doing a better job.
After replacing my iPad, I took my old iPad Pro, an even older iPad Mini from 2013, my Kindle from 2011, and my husband’s recently replaced Apple Watch over to Staples for electronic recycling. I reset them all to factory settings first. I also was able to recycle a bunch of cables that I no longer need.
Here’s an amusing coda to this story. The day after I took the bag of e-waste over to Staples, I got an e-mail from Amazon saying “we are discontinuing support for Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier.” In other words, the Kindle I just recycled was about to become obsolete anyway.
What’s in Your Spam Folder?
When is the last time you looked in your spam folder?
If you’re not in the habit of checking it regularly, I can guarantee that there’s mail in there that shouldn’t be there. And there is somebody waiting for a response from you and wondering why you are dissing them.
Sometimes, legitimate mail ends up in my spam folder. I know this because I look at my spam folder every day. Sometimes more than once a day. Whenever I see a number next to my spam folder, indicating that it’s not empty, I look at it. If it’s spam, I empty the folder and the number goes away. If it’s not spam, I move it to my inbox.
People tell me that some of my e-mails end up in their spam folder. (Some, but not all. Go figure.) If you don’t check yours regularly, you may be missing something important. At a minimum, you are messing up somebody else’s day.
Back in 2016, I wrote a post called “Reminders that Work for You” explaining how a visual indicator on my screen will bother me until I clear it. In my e-mail, any “unread” indicator — whether it’s for my inbox or any other folder — will bug me. That’s why I’m so diligent about checking my spam folder.
It may be overkill for you to check yours multiple times a day like I do, but you should look at it at least once a day. It could be first thing in the morning, or after lunch, or before you wrap up at the end of the day. Just make it a regular habit. Your correspondents will thank you.
You Have Too Many Cables
The type of work I do with clients tends to come in waves. Recently, I’ve helped several clients organize their drawers full of cables that were not in use.
I’ve written about cables before, most notably in No More Mystery Cables and Got New Electronics? The cable situation has gotten even more complicated with the emergence of the USB-C connector. There were already too many cable options; now there is a dizzying array.
Let’s cut to the bottom line. You have too many cables. The cables that you use all the time are already plugged in and either attached to a device or waiting to recharge a device. So what is that drawer full of cables, and what should you do about it?
The first step is to sort your cables by type. A good website for figuring out the different types of cables you have is here.
Most of your cables will have a standard USB connector on one end. The website linked above describes it as “a flat, rectangular interface.” This is the kind of connector that plugs into almost any charger plug. It’s what’s on the other end of the cable that will determine the type.
One popular type of plug at the other end of your USB cable will be a Lightning plug. That’s the plug that goes into most iPhones, iPads, and Apple AirPod cases. (The most recent iPhones, iPads, and AirPod Pro cases use the USB-C plug instead of Lightning. Oy.)
Another popular type of plug at the other end of your USB cable will be a micro-USB plug. Micro-USB looks like half of a fairly flat oval. It’s used for most non-Apple devices, such as Android phones and Kindle readers. (Recent Android models use the USB-C plug instead of micro-USB. Oy again.)
Less commonly used in recent years is the mini-USB plug. That looks like a small trapezoid. (If you’ve forgotten what you learned in geometry, look it up.) Digital cameras came with a mini-USB charger, so if you’ve still got your old camera around, you’ll have some of those.
Now, about those USB-C plugs. The USB-C plug looks like a hollow oval. It is used to charge many newer devices, such as iPhones, iPads, Androids, and Mac computers. Some cables have USB on one end and USB-C on the other, while other cables have USB-C on BOTH ends. Cables that have USB-C on both ends will plug into a charger plug that has a USB-C interface rather than a standard USB interface.
Now that you are slightly more educated, sort all of your cables into different types, based on what’s on either end:
- USB to Lightning
- USB to micro-USB
- USB to mini-USB
- USB to USB-C
- USB-C to USB-C.
Once you have them sorted, see if you can match them up with your devices. If you can’t match any of them up with any of your devices, put them aside into what we will call the Mystery Pile.
Now look at your charger plugs. If you have any USB-C to USB-C cables, you should have at least one charger plug that takes a USB-C cable instead of a USB cable. Sort your charger plugs into USB and USB-C, if any.
You will likely discover that you have more cables than you have devices. It’s nice to keep an extra cable or two of each type, but not more than that. Put any excess cables in the Mystery Pile. Make sure you have one plug for each cable, and put the rest in the Mystery Pile.
Now that all of your cables are sorted by type and downsized, get some clear plastic bags. Write a type of cable on each bag (such as “USB to Lightning”) and put those cables in the bag. Put the charger plugs in a bag, too. If you have USB-C charger plugs, they can go in the same bag as the USB-C to USB-C cables.
What about the Mystery Pile? Put it them in their own bag, or in a box if there are too many to fit in a bag. Label it “Mystery Cables” and put today’s date on it. Anytime you want to use a device and don’t have a cable for it in one of the other bags, see if it’s in the Mystery Cables bag.
A year from now, toss the Mystery Cables bag. If you haven’t needed those cables in a year, you can safely toss them.
Too Many Tabs
There is a great internet meme that has been floating around for a while:
“My mind is like an internet browser. 17 tabs are open, 4 of them are frozen, and I don’t know where the music is coming from.”
I think of this meme whenever I am working with a client who has a lot of tabs open. These clients may also have multiple Word documents or Excel spreadsheets or PowerPoint presentations open and unsaved. They are also likely to have many e-mails in their Drafts folder.
When you start something on your computer and then don’t finish it — whether it’s a browser tab, a file, or a partially-written e-mail — it’s easy to lose track of what you were doing and what is still left to be done. This leads to inefficiency and duplication of effort.
One way to practice good computer hygiene is to close all of your windows and shut down your computer before you go to sleep. This ensures that you evaluate everything you left open during the day. If something is incomplete, make a note of it so that you can deal with it tomorrow or another day. You may think that leaving a tab or a file or a draft e-mail open will remind you to get it done, but there is too much visual noise on your computer screen and the result is overwhelm, not clarity.
The idea of turning off your computer may leave you in a panic. That is because you are under the illusion that by leaving your computer on and all of your windows open, you won’t lose track of anything. But here are some of the realities:
- By working on files and leaving them open, you run the risk of losing your latest changes because the files haven’t been saved. You also run the risk of having multiple versions of a file.
- By having a lot of unfinished e-mails in your Drafts folder, you run the risk of thinking you replied when you haven’t. You remember writing the reply but then you got distracted and never sent it, which is how it ended up in your Drafts.
- By keeping tabs open indefinitely because you don’t want to forget about a page you found, you run the risk of losing track of it completely. Better that you should save a bookmark of the page.
The more you have open on your computer, the slower your computer will run, and the more likely it will crash or hang up. Then you will be forced to reboot it and you will lose track of everything. You will have better control over your time and your work if you take control of your computer instead of leaving it to chance.
Leave yourself some winding-down time before shifting gears from one activity to another. Save your work with a name that will help you to remember what it is. A file name default like “Document1” is not going to be much use. A file name like “NYSCA Grant Application DRAFT 9-29-23” will make it much easier for you resume work on that document at a later date.
Look in your e-mail Drafts folder. Delete the old ones that you will never send. Look at the more recent ones and see if it’s still worth sending these (with an apology for the delay). Your goal should be to have NO drafts in that folder. Then it will be noticeable if it a number shows up next to the folder name. At the end of each day, make sure you clear those out, either by sending or deleting them.
Now, about those tabs. If you get into the habit of bookmarking pages you want to find again and then closing the tabs, you’ll be in much better shape. Your browser will let you organize your bookmarks into folders. You can rename the bookmark before saving it so that you can remember why you want to find it again.
Getting out of the habit of leaving everything open will be tough at first, but, like all other organizing habits, it will give you greater peace of mind.
The Hell of a New Computer
I got a new computer last week. Thank heaven I am organized and somewhat computer savvy, or I never would have survived. I’m still not sure I will survive.
Switching to a new computer is like moving house. You know it will be great once it’s over, but going through it is very stressful. Things that you did every day without even thinking now require effort. You’re not sure where to find your stuff. Some things are improved but some are not as good as you remember.
To move to a new computer, I knew that I needed to have two things handy:
- A definitive list of all the software programs that I use.
- All of my personal files (documents, photos, videos, bookmarks) on an external hard drive.
Luckily, I keep a running list of my software programs as I purchase them, along with software keys where needed. I use the password program LastPass, which I knew would greatly facilitate logging on to download my software. Installing LastPass was one of the first things that I did on the new computer.
Nevertheless, it took me longer than I expected to get my software programs installed and set up the way I like. I’m still discovering settings that I need to tinker with. In some instances, the programs I was using aren’t downloadable anymore, so I’ve had to upgrade to newer versions, and I’m not quite acclimated yet.
Before buying the new computer, I upgraded my old computer from Windows 10 to Windows 11. I found the transition to be very smooth, which emboldened me to get a new Windows 11 computer. But there are some Windows 11 features that I’m not quite used to yet, and some Windows 10 features I miss.
As for my personal files, I have a lot of them. I started going through them a few days before the transition to find folders and files that I didn’t need anymore. I got rid of a lot. Even so, when I copied what was left onto an external hard drive, it still took a long time. I realized that the ones taking the longest were videos of shows I had been in or had directed. I decided to just keep those on the external hard drive, and not to copy them over to my new computer. That sped up the second transfer quite a bit.
My computer guy suggested that I keep my personal files in OneDrive on the new computer. That results in them being backed up to the cloud and also makes them available on any of my other devices. However, it is taking a long time to get all of the files copied to the cloud. I have started syncing only when we go to sleep. If I keep the syncing on during the day, it slows down my network so much that we can’t get any work done! (My husband also works from home.)
At some point in the near future, I know that I am going to be using my new computer as seamlessly as my old one. As an Organizer, I’m a big fan of making improvements and doing things more efficiently, so I know I did the right thing. But right now I am deeply out of my comfort zone.