I’ve 38,000 unread emails

Jon Martindale / Foundry

That is a type of ones that I can get away with fairly simply, largely as a result of I’m not about to let simply anybody take a peek at my e mail account. However once I’ve often had pals or colleagues look at my display whereas I’m working, they’ve been horrified.

“What occurs if somebody sends you one thing vital?” they ask. “How are you aware if you get a brand new e mail?” The tech-savvy ones even inform me, “You actually ought to arrange some filters.”

And so they’re all appropriate. Having tens of 1000’s of unread emails isn’t simply messy. It’s distracting. Impractical. The unread counter is totally arbitrary at this level—I don’t even give it some thought anymore.

Why don’t I take care of it? I suppose I simply don’t must. I get so many emails that if I’d spent all day opening or “studying” them merely so that they don’t present up as “unread,” then I’d by no means get something completed. (I ought to most likely simply delete all of them!) A fast parse to see if I received something vital, then I’m on to no matter precise activity I must do.

My drivers and BIOS aren’t up-to-date

I’ve been having some hassle with bizarre system locks lately. I believe it has to do with a misconfigured webcam driver, however it may be my second monitor, or a defective HDMI cable.

To verify it wasn’t software-related, I up to date my graphics drivers—and apparently I hadn’t up to date them since early 2024. Oops. I later went to replace my BIOS as one other potential repair for my system glitching woes—and apparently I hadn’t flashed that since late 2023.

I’ve given myself a well-deserved slap on the wrist for each of those. It’s one thing I ought to do extra usually, however it simply retains slipping my thoughts and I by no means discover the time to get round to them. I imply, positive, it’s not one thing you have to do… however it’s a good suggestion as a result of an outdated BIOS and/or drivers could cause points.

I plug my cellphone in to switch information

I do know there are a bunch of how to get information off my cellphone onto my PC. There are apps, community sharing, and cloud storage choices which are all fairly simple. However for essentially the most half, once I wish to again up my pictures or switch paperwork between cellphone and PC, I nonetheless plug in.

I’ve a USB-C-to-A cable with a USB 3.0 port at greatest—it isn’t quick, so massive information transfers can take time. It’s cable-tied to my desk, although, so it’s all the time inside simple attain. And it does a ok job for transferring information round that I’ve by no means bothered to analyze a greater resolution.

Lazy? Maybe. However the effort and time wanted to discover higher alternate options has all the time felt higher spent elsewhere for me.

After I reinstall Home windows, I simply purchase new storage drives

Jon Martindale / Foundry

This sin is extra within the vein of a privileged humblebrag than it’s a mistake or dangerous behavior, however it’s an awesome instance of the sort of paranoia I’ve when transferring to a contemporary, new Home windows set up.

I’m so involved that Home windows will unintentionally delete one thing I would like (or that I’ll overlook to again one thing up) that as an alternative of reinstalling Home windows on the identical drive (or manually backing up vital information and performing an old-school format), I simply desire to purchase a brand new drive altogether and hold the outdated drive as further storage.

The plus aspect of that is that I all the time have a contemporary new drive to put in new video games and apps on, and I’ve the whole lot else on my older drives. The draw back is that my system has grown right into a Frankenstein’s monster of drive letters. I nonetheless have the 500GB Samsung 850 EVO from three installs in the past. It’s additionally left me with numerous drives referred to as “Native Disk” and it usually takes a couple of tries for me to seek out the precise drive I’m on the lookout for.

I exploit a excessive mouse DPI on a regular basis

I’m nicely conscious that many professional PC players play at 800 to 1,200 DPI on their gaming mice, with large mouse pads over which they sweep their arms for pinpoint accuracy. However I’m not about that life.

I run my mice at round 2,400 DPI on a regular basis, it doesn’t matter what I’m doing, and that works nicely sufficient for me. I exploit a fingertip grip model, so my mouse is generally managed by my index and ring fingers resting on both aspect of the mouse, and which means I would like a sensitivity stage that traverses actual distance with minimal motion. At 2,400 DPI, I can carry out most of my required mousing in a small house.

I don’t play a lot in the way in which of high-speed FPS video games—the place the added accuracy from a decrease DPI could be actually value it—however even once I do, I don’t swap it up. I like my mouse sensitivity and I’m not going to child myself into pondering I may be aggressive anyway. I’m simply right here to attain targets and check out to not die greater than anybody else on my staff.

I solely reboot my PC when it crawls

I very often end my work days with duties nonetheless open, initiatives midway completed, and emails I haven’t gotten to but, so I normally simply decrease these home windows, swap to a brand new desktop view, and are available again to them later. And once I’m completed for the day, I don’t trouble saving the whole lot or bookmarking tabs—I simply put the PC to sleep.

Meaning I not often shut down my laptop. Which isn’t an enormous deal for essentially the most half, however once I’m a number of weeks in with no correct reboot, I can normally inform. Community efficiency drops off a cliff for some motive, movies start to stutter, browser tabs begin lagging… and that’s once I comprehend it’s time to restart. I ought to do it extra usually, although.

I’ve let my PC pile up with points

I spend most of my days working with and writing about PCs, {hardware} elements, and software program, so in terms of my essential work and gaming machine, I simply wish to use it. Don’t get me unsuitable: I like twiddling with computer systems and seeing what I can do with them. However I hate troubleshooting once I must focus or once I wish to chill out.

That’s resulted in me having a PC with a shocking quantity of nagging points for somebody who writes guides on the way to repair mentioned points. For instance, I’ve one odd boot problem the place typically apps received’t load correctly and are solely half-responsive. It has one thing to do with my webcam I’m fairly positive, however I haven’t nailed it down but.

I even have a second monitor that often glints with bizarre white bands, however unplugging and replugging it will get it going once more. And for a PC working on a 7950X3D and a PCIe 4 SSD, the startup time is terribly sluggish. I actually ought to do one thing about all of that… however I can’t be bothered. Don’t be like me. Don’t let your issues pile up.

I’ve too many desktop icons

Jon Martindale / Foundry

That is one which my less-tech-savvy pals rag on me for. It’s not as dangerous as my 70-year-old mom’s desktop—which is extra icon than background at this level—however I’ll admit it’s a bit chaotic. I don’t have any shortcuts there, however I do have far too many folders. They’re usually for previous initiatives I haven’t gotten again to shortly, however I swear I’ll… in the future…

Actually, I believe that is extra aesthetic choice than something, as functionally there’s little distinction between having a folder the place I save all my Photoshopped information thumbnails on the desktop or nestled deeper right into a drive. Regardless, it doesn’t look tremendous skilled.

Do as I say, not as I do

Writing this text has been an eye fixed opener for me. Not solely did I not notice what number of tech sins I used to be committing, however I by no means knew I used to be counting on so many stop-gap options. Quite a lot of these points could possibly be solved by simply spending somewhat extra time doing issues the fitting approach, which I usually evangelize in my how-to guides.

The reality is, we could share every kind of recommendation with you—whether or not it’s about good digital safety habits, extending your SSD’s lifespan, shopping for a refurbished laptop computer, or being extra productive with Home windows 11—even when we aren’t good about heeding these exact same ideas.

So, let me make this pledge to you, oh reader who holds your self to a better normal than this pontificating tech knowledgeable: I’ll do higher. Maybe I’ll write up one other version of this in a yr and we are able to see what number of of my sins I’ve absolved myself of.