Clean up your digital life: Talking Tech podcast

Brett Molina, USA TODAY
·4 min read

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

More: Daily news, true crime, and more USA TODAY podcasts

Hey there, listeners. It's Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech. It's a new year, and a lot of times, we're thinking about new things we want to do, resolutions, a lot of the goals that we're thinking about for 2022. You also may be thinking about ways that you can kind of clean up your life, you know? Both real world and digitally. My colleague, Kim Komando, writes about this for a story, that you can read on tech.usa.com. It's called Five Smart Ways to Clean Up Your Digital Life for the New Year. I'm going to focus on two of these, right here. And I think there are two that are super important. One is email and one is your web browser. Let's start with email. You might be someone that has tons and tons of emails and unread messages in your inbox. I am one of them. There are some tricks that you can use, to clean up that inbox and automate that cleanup.

Kim talks about some of the steps that you can take to do this. You can use search filters, obviously, on your email app, to find emails by category, by size, a lot more. And one example she gives is: maybe you have a ton of emails from a company that you don't want anymore. You can search for the email address, and then you can easily just get rid of them all. If you're in Gmail, for example, she says, "You can hit select all conversations at the top of the page and then hit the trash icon," and it gets rid of every single message from that email address. Really quick and easy way. If you get a lot of random auto-subscribe emails, and you just have a ton of them, and they're just clogging up your inbox, and you barely read them, you can do that.

Also, if you want to set yourself up for the future, you can unsubscribe to a lot of that stuff, in case you don't have any use for it anymore, and you're ready to move on. That's one of the best ways to do it. The other area in your digital life, you can clean up, is your web browser. It never hurts to clear your cache; that way, it helps your browser run a little bit more smoothly.

One of the things to note though, about clearing your cash on your web browser, is that it will remove your logins. So if you're logged into websites, it'll erase those. So, you have to log back in again. That's something to keep in mind. If you're in Chrome and you want to clear your cache, you just go to the three dot menu in the top right. You go to "More tools", and then you clear your browsing data. And you can set up how you want to clear your browsing data, as well; if you want to just clear it for a certain period of time; if you want to clear it just for all time, so it'll just go from the very beginning and clear it all, you can do that.

It's a good way to keep your browser running and up to date and really just makes the experience a lot easier. And of course, Kim details this across various browsers. If you're using Firefox, if you have Microsoft Edge, if you have Safari; whatever it is, it's good to just go in there, clear your cache, clear your history. And that way, you have a fresh browser to start the new year. You can read more of Kim's tips on how to get a fresh start for your digital life for the new year in her story on tech.usatoday.com.

Listeners, let's hear from you. Do you have any comments, questions, or show ideas? Any tech problems you want us to try to address? You can find me on Twitter: @brettmolina23. Please don't forget to subscribe and rate us, or leave a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you get your podcasts. You've been listening to Talking Tech. We'll be back. Blah, let me start that part again. Sorry, Chandler. You've been listening to Talking Tech. We'll be back tomorrow, with another quick hit from the world of tech.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Clean up your digital life: Talking Tech podcast

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • 'End of oil not in sight', OPEC Secretary General says in MEES article

    The end of oil is not in sight, OPEC's top official said, as the pace of energy demand growth means that alternatives cannot replace it at the needed scale, and the focus should be on cutting emissions not oil use. In an op-ed article in the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) published on Friday, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais wrote there is "a worrying trend of narratives" that use terms like the end of oil, which have the potential to foster energy policies that stoke energy chaos. "What if investments in supply fall as a result, but demand for oil keeps increasing, as we are seeing today?," Al Ghais wrote in the MEES article which OPEC shared on X.

  • Skelly, Home Depot's 12-foot skeleton, gets a canine companion — and he's a very good boy

    Halloween may be six months away, but Home Depot unveiled some of its latest and greatest decorations, including a dog pal for Skelly, the brand’s gigantic and popular 12-foot skeleton.

  • Biden agrees to debate Trump after months of evasion

    Joe Biden said he is ready to debate Donald Trump after months of evading questions over whether he would face off his Republican opponent on stage.

  • Reading terror attack: Deaths of three men ‘probably avoidable’ after failings

    Khairi Saadallah fatally stabbed friends James Furlong, 36, Dr David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, on June 20 2020.

  • As toxic drug crisis persists, Youth in ‘care’ are especially vulnerable: ‘It’s just a horrific cycle’

    Content warning: This story deals with trauma from the child “welfare” system, including addiction and loss. Please read with care for your spirit and well-being. During her path to sobriety, Eva Takakenew has done a lot of thinking about her time in the child welfare system. “I figured there was something wrong with me that my [birth] mom didn’t want me,” shared Takakenew, who is from Piyesiw-Awasis (Thunderchild First Nation). “Why did she give me away? Didn’t she love me? And so I would alway

  • Meta Returns To Spending Mode. But Analysts Say 'This Time It's Different.'

    Meta stock took a hit on its big AI spending plans. But analysts say that the core business is strong.

  • Deaths of Reading terror attack victims ‘probably avoidable’

    The deaths of Reading terror attack victims James Furlong, Dr David Wails and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett at the hands of Khairi Saadallah were “probably avoidable” and contributed to by the failings of multiple agencies, Judge Coroner Sir Adrian Fulford has said.

  • Andrew Tate to be tried on rape, trafficking and sexual exploitation charges, Romanian court rules

    Kickboxer and social media influencer Andrew Tate is to be tried on charges of rape, human trafficking and sexually exploiting women for financial gain, a court in Romania ruled on Friday.

  • Celine Dion says her wedding tiara put her in the hospital

    ‘My Heart Will Go On’ singer wore a tiara with 2,000 Swarovski crystals for her 1994 wedding to late husband René Angélil

  • King Charles Is "Recovering So Well," Says Photographer

    Buckingham Palace commissioned Millie Pilkington to take a new portrait of King Charles and Queen Camilla earlier this month.

  • Microsoft, Alphabet earnings fuel stock rally: Yahoo Finance

    All three of the major indexes (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) are jumping on better-than-expected quarterly results from Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT). The earnings are providing evidence to investors that artificial intelligence is more than hype; there is a lot of cash being spent on the tech. Wall Street is also digesting another inflation report. The core March Personal Consumption Expenditures reading was slightly hotter than expected, but not enough to deter expectation that the Federal Reserve will eventually cut rates. Trending tickers on Yahoo Finance include Intel (INTC), Snap (SNAP), AbbVie (ABBV). Top guests today include: 3:15 p.m. ET - Daniel Yergin, S&P Global Vice Chairman 3:45 p.m. ET - Peter Arment, Baird Senior Analyst and Tony Bancroft, Gabelli Funds Portfolio Manager 4:25 p.m. ET - Robert D'Loren, Xcel CEO 4:35 p.m. ET - Mike Brown, Travel + Leisure CEO

  • Venezuela’s dictator plans a sham election, but recent events may ruin his scheme | Opinion

    Nicolas Maduro has banned opposition candidates to win a rigged July election. But his scheme faces growing troubles. | Opinion

  • Dog Missing 10 Days Tracked Down in the Nick of Time by Thermal Drone

    A recently adopted dog that ran away from her new owners was tracked down by a thermal-imaging drone, after 10 days “surviving on her own in the wild,” a Northern Irish pet rescue charity said.Footage released by the animal charity LostPaws NI shows the “extremely emotional reunification” between Moo the boxer and her original owner, who traveled from Cookstown to Toome to help locate the missing pooch.Moo can be seen wandering along a rural road, trailed by her rescuers, before they catch up with her. The “skeletally thin” dog can be seen jumping up and wolfing down food.“She likely didn’t have too much left. The videos really don’t do justice as to how skinny she is – or the near impacts with vehicles,” the pet rescue agency wrote on Facebook. They said it took 36 hours for them to find Moo with the help of the drone.“She has quite a few injuries on her head and paws and is completely emaciated but will recover with time,” they said. The charity added that Moo has since returned to her original home, in the “countryside where she grew up with her own little pack.” Credit: LostPaws NI via Storyful

  • 14 Iconic Restaurant Dishes You Need To Try In The Midwest

    Midwest food might not be as enticing as food from other parts of the U.S., but there are plenty of iconic and comforting restaurant dishes you should try.

  • Don’t vape if you want to have children, scientists tell women

    Women should avoid vaping if they wish to have children, a report has found.

  • Milla Jovovich Says She Could Survive an Apocalypse as Moms Are in the 'De-Escalation Business’ (Exclusive)

    The actress is mom to Ever, 16, Dashiel, 9, and Osian, 4, whom she shares with husband Paul W.S. Anderson

  • Keke Palmer And SZA To Star In Issa Rae Produced Buddy Comedy From TriStar Pictures

    EXCLUSIVE: It looks like there recent experience on Saturday Night Live went very well as Keke Palmer and four-time Grammy winning musician Sza are set to star in an Untitled Buddy Comedy from TriStar Pictures with producer Isaa Rae producing. Rap Sh!t director Lawrence Lamont is set to direct with the screenplay written by his …

  • UNC students pitch tents to protest Israel-Hamas war. After talks, they’re coming down.

    Students at UNC-Chapel Hill negotiated with UNC administrators and said they had reached an agreement.

  • London mayoral election 2024: which candidate should you vote for?

    The election is four weeks away, and the battle for London is well and truly on — but do you know your way around the candidates? Robbie Griffiths has the ultimate Top Trumps cheat sheet to help you choose

  • Sophia Bush Reveals She’s Queer and in Love With Soccer Star Ashlyn Harris

    Sophia Bush has found love with American soccer star Ashlyn Harris. The actor publicly came out as queer in a candid personal essay for Glamour.