When was last time you deleted a document or Email off your computer?

Do you ever go through your folders and files to see if you really need all those documents or are even using them?

Schedule a date and time to go through your files and delete any you are NEVER going to use or refer to again. If this "OverHall" is going to take many hours that you might not have time for, then try to schedule to do a folder a day or week until you have everything deleted that is old, outdated, and unused.

If you work for someone, first see if they have a document retention policy in place. If they don't have a policy; suggest they develop one.

If you own your own business or just use your computer for personal matters then YOU need to determine how long a document is kept.

If you are unsure due to legalities or accounting reasons, please seek advice of an attorney or accountant before you start deleting your documents.

I personally recommend that if you haven't used a document (printed, edited, copied, or sent) in last six months that it is probably safe to delete it. Again, if unsure, ask someone. If you still don't want to delete but DON"T need it on your computers hard drive taking up space that you might really need check June 2000 issue when I'll write about "T is for Transfer".

****To check how much Free Space is on your Hard Drive**** ~~ Double Click My Computer ~~ Place Pointer on [C:] ~~ Right Click on [c:] ~~ Click Properties ~~ Click General *********************************************************************** Okay, how can you check to see how old a document is? I will explain process for those of you that use Microsoft. To those of you that use other systems please refer to your manual or look (click) around using similar steps or wording to see if these steps work for you.

~~ Click Start (Usually located on left bottom of your screen) ~~ Place Pointer on Programs ~~ Place Pointer on Windows Explorer and Click

You have now entered into your electronic file cabinet. Here you can "see" every document, file, and program that is on your computer.

Your screen will show one of two things:

U stands for Uninstall

Does it seem like your computer is starting to slow down or get sluggish? Do you have programs, shareware, executable files, e-books, or games that you no longer need or use? Are they taking up much needed space and memory on your computer? Well, good news is that it’s very easy and painless to get them off your computer! All you need to do is uninstall or remove (different from delete *) them.

The example we are going to do is for Microsoft Office (YOU MUST HAVE THE CD OR DISK TO DO THIS ) which has many components, for example EXCEL, that you might not use and you can uninstall them.

Click on START Move Pointer to SETTINGS Move Pointer to CONTROL PANEL and Click Move Pointer to Add/Remove Programs Double Click Under TAB INSTALL/UNINSTALL you will see a list of software programs that are currently installed on your computer. Scroll down to Microsoft Office Click on Microsoft Office

DON’T WORRY, YOU ARE NOT TAKING ANYTHING OFF YET!

Click on ADD/REMOVE You will get a prompt telling you to insert CD or Disk (You can put this in before hand). Insert CD or Disk. Click OK Your screen will go through a setup and search process and then prompt you, Click on ADD/REMOVE

DON’T WORRY, YOU ARE NOT TAKING ANYTHING OFF YET!

Now you will see Microsoft Office Maintenance Box appear. See check marks under options? (If something is not checked, it is NOT installed). Click on box next to EXCEL to remove check mark. Click CONTINUE You will get a Confirm Component Removal. Continue answering prompts to complete your uninstall.