10 Tech Cleanup Tasks for New Year’s Day

Forget the new Resolutions of the year. Instead, spend your New Year’s Day completing a few simple tech tasks that will make you instantly feel better about the state of your digital life.

The first four are very quick and simple, and the last six take a little longer but can still be done in less than an hour.

1. Empty your computer’s trash

How long has it been since you emptied the trash on your desk? Start with this super simple two-click task and enjoy the motivation you feel to continue your cleaning list.

2. Close excess tabs and clear your browser history

Listen up, tab collectors! Today is the day you free yourself from browser window hell. If you’re hesitant to abandon all your open tabs, consider adding them to your favorites first. In Chrome, go to Bookmarks > Add all tabs to favorites and move on with your life. Also delete your browsing data on desktop and mobile devices.

3. Use compressed air to clean your devices

It’s time to remove all the crumbs and lint from your keyboard. Grab a can of compressed air and work its magic on your keyboard or laptop. You can also clean all the ports on your laptop, phone, and tablet while you’re at it.

4. Tidy up the desk

When was the last time you actually saw your virtual office? Take all the free files and move them to a folder. If you don’t know where to start, create a folder called “2025 and earlier” and dump everything there.

If you have a little more time, even just 10 minutes, sort your files in the way that works best for you. There is no right way to do this. There is only one way to help you find what you need.

5. Unsubscribe from unwanted emails

It seems easier and faster to press delete than to unsubscribe from unwanted emails. But more emails keep coming. Make January 1st the day you invest an extra 15 seconds per message to completely remove yourself from certain mailing lists.

If you have a weakness for emails with deals and discounts, consider creating an alias address for them. This way, you can separate offer emails from personal messages, bank notices, updates from your children’s school and other important information. The reason I prefer to use an email alias rather than using your real address and letting transaction emails go to a dedicated folder or tab is because of what happens when companies sell your information to a third party. If you’re receiving fraudulent messages that appear to be from your bank, but are directed to your email alias, you don’t need to dig around to determine if they’re legitimate – they’re not.

6. Backup photos to your phone

Do you have photos on your phone that are more than a year old? Are they automatically saved somewhere? If not, take care of it today.

The time you need for this task depends on whether you already have a cloud storage service that you use for photos. Since photos are some of people’s most valuable data, it’s worth spending, say, half an hour finding a service, signing up, and setting your photos to be automatically backed up there. Keep copies of your most popular photos on your phone, but get rid of the rest to free up space.

7. Give your Google Drive files a once over

If you have a Google account, chances are you have unexpected files in your Google Drive and Gmail. For example, you might have large PDF files of menus from scanning QR codes at restaurants if the vendor hosted the file on Google Drive and you were signed in to your account when you viewed it. You may also have files that others have emailed to you hiding in Google Drive.

Delete these unnecessary items from Google Drive. I recommend starting by viewing the files Shared with me in the left rail of Google Drive.

8. Scan all loose but important papers

Scan and digitally file all papers accumulated over the year. Once you have a digitized copy, shred and recycle or compost the paper responsibly.

9. Run a Privacy Check

One of my complaints about online services, including social media, is that they sometimes change your settings when they roll out updates or choose features you don’t want. Conduct a privacy check on your online accounts, paying particular attention to social networks (don’t forget YouTube) as well as Google. Review the type of data shared under your current settings and decide if you’re still comfortable with it.

10. Check and cancel subscriptions

Check and cancel any unwanted subscriptions, such as streaming services, newsletters, and subscriptions you no longer need. With many services, you can cancel at any time and continue using what you paid for until the end of the pay period. If you’re tightening your budget in 2026, consider canceling all streaming services and only keeping one at a time. In some cases, you can cancel a prepaid subscription and get a refund for unused time, although this is rare.