Cleanse Your Inbox with Sort
Start the New Year with Slimmer Mail!
It's time to make a commitment to clean up the inbox. That sale in July is long past, so you don't need the coupon anymore. That notice from your HOA about the dangerous squirrels from back in February probably isn't current, and the invite for last year's New Year's party could survive being deleted, too.
But what to do when it's gotten out of hand? Sort it! Mail allows you to sort messages by date received, subject, size, attachment, who from and who to. Who knew? Now you do!
There are two ways to sort. From the Menu Bar select 'View' then 'Sort By,' or right above the Message Window there is a small drop-down where you can do the same thing.
Now that you have sorted the messages you can select bunches to delete or move to archive folders. And when you are done remember to delete your Trash by selecting from the Menu Bar 'Mailboxes' then 'Erase Deleted Items' in either all or individual accounts. Happy cleansing!
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Is Your Backup Drive Ready to Retire?
When the Spinning Platters Need a Break
It's the end of the year and a great time to stop and assess whether or not it's a good time to replace your backup drive that you use with Time Machine. Those platters have spun at over 5400+ revolutions per minute, every minute of every day since you first set up that Time Machine drive. Cars can't sustain RPMs of that level for very long, so just think how reliable modern hard disk technology is!
If your Time Machine backup drive is 3 years or older, consider getting a replacement drive to start the new year fresh. Set the old one aside as an archive of your older backups. You can always call upon it if needed to pull down saved files. And the good news is that your new drive does not have to cost a lot; 1TB external USB 3.0 hard disks have dropped in price and can be had for as little as $75.
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Clean Out Your Old Apps with AppCleaner
Freeware to Make Your Hard Drive Tidier
If you've recently updated to Mavericks or one of the last of the cat-themed OSes, you probably noticed applications that now have a circle with a line running through it. Known as the "Prohibition Sign" or "Universal No" it means that the application will no longer run on your current system.
Well, what's the best way to clean out the old apps? If there is an uninstall as there is with big professional applications, then use that. If not, just deleting the app from your Applications folder is not enough as preference files and other tidbits are left behind. That's where AppCleaner comes in.
AppCleaner is a free download (here) and an extremely simple application to use. Once you pull it down from CNET's website, move it over to your Applications or Utilities folder (your choice). To use, simply run AppCleaner and drag the application you'd like to delete into the window; then click the Delete button on the lower right. It will move all the associated files for that application to your Trash. Empty your Trash to finalize the delete. For some apps you may then need to restart your machine.
Need more help? A Tutorial on AppCleaner is available on the download page at CNET. (http://download.cnet.com/AppCleaner/3000-2248_4-10867510.html?tag=mncol;3)
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