, 24 May 2021

In addition to spring cleaning your home, it's important not to forget about optimizing your phone

Spring is here. It’s time to throw open the windows and let the fresh air in. But first, you need to do a good spring cleaning to get rid of any and all grime that has accumulated. Spring cleaning is not only for your house, though — you can (and should) clean your mobile devices, too. Here are our favorite spring cleaning tips that go beyond the ordinary vacuum and dust routine.  

Spring clean your living space

• Brighten light fixtures and lamps. See the gleam again from your light fixtures. Get a soft microfiber cloth or duster and wipe away dust from ceiling lights, fans, and table lamps to restore their gleam. (I even use a vacuum attachment on lampshades.)
• De-grease windows. Dirt, dust, grease, and bacteria collect on draperies, blinds, verticals, and shades. It's recommended to have your fabric window treatments dry-cleaned every 5-7 years. For metal or plastic blinds, you can take them down and wash them with dishwashing soap in a bucket of water or a solution of half water, half vinegar. Clean wooden blinds with a soft dry cloth wear a pair of cotton gloves or old socks and wipe the slats down.
• Dust off bookshelves. A dusty old library sounds like a romantic notion, but it’s not good in your own home. Working from the top down, remove books and decorative objects from one shelf at a time, dust and return. Maybe you’ll find some old books that are ready to donate while you’re at it.
• Sanitize doors, knobs, and handles. Sanitizing household fixtures is now more important than ever. Give knobs and handles a quick wipe down with your favorite cleaner and some paper towels. Make your front door welcoming again by cleaning it inside and out with warm, soapy water. Dry it with a soft cloth.
• Clear out kitchen drawers. I can’t ever figure out how the crumbs get in there; but spring cleaning is a good time to remove everything, wipe out the drawers and return only the items you still use.
• Treat upholstered furniture. After a season of snuggling on the sofa with the dog and a good movie, stick your hand between the cushion and you’ll find old popcorn and plenty of dirt, sticks and leaves. I even found a dead lizard! Get out the vacuum attachments and vacuum upholstered furniture, including under and between cushions. Fluff and rotate cushions and pillows.
• Check underneath the rugs. You’ll be surprised what’s under there, so move the furniture off the rug and vacuum underneath. You may want to take your rug outside and give it a good old-fashioned beating too.
• Inspect underneath beds and behind furniture. Dust bunnies as big as the cat are hidden away, so make an extra effort to get the vacuum way up under there. Allergy sufferers have enough to deal with when the pollen comes, so help them out by minimizing dust. In case you have one, this is a great task for your robot mop can lend a helping hand with.
• Make your shower and tub walls shine. Soap scum builds up after a season of long, hot showers. Choose your favorite cleaning product and leave it on for at least 10 minutes before scrubbing down the tiles.

Spring clean your Android

There are plenty of reasons why it's important to clean up and keep tabs on the content that is being stored (and taking up space) on your phone. Over time, unnecessary data, system caches, gallery thumbnails, installation files, and residual files can accumulate on your smartphone and tablet. 

You can regain performance and speed when you clean away all the unwanted junk on your device with Avast Cleanup for Android. Cleanup removes junk files and cleans caches and thumbnails from your Android, allowing it to run at its best.

Further reading:
8 tips to a cleaner PC
How to free up disk space