What I Learned About Switching Computers

I got a new laptop to work on, and I've spent a good part of the last two days adapting to my new computer. Here are a few key things I learned to save time during the switch:

• Back up your files - You should be backing up your files anyway, and since I do so much on my computer every day, I send myself a weekly reminder to download a back up of this blog, and another weekly reminder to back up my hard drive. This practice made transferring files to my new computer super easy. The only real problem has been setting up the library in iTunes, which just never seems to go very smoothy.


• Work online - Many services, including Google, allow you to store files online. By storing data in the "cloud," you don't have to worry about transferring anything.
  
• Sign into frequently used programs whenever possible - Browsers like Chrome and Firefox allow you to sign in, and will save your bookmarks, history, and even usernames and passwords. When you're using a new computer, all you have to do is sign in to the browser, and all of the icons and shortcuts that you're used to will be right at your fingertips again.


• You can transfer a lot - One extension in Firefox that I use all the time is called Clippings, which is a shortcut for pasting frequently used text. I was dreading having to recreate all of my Clippings, so I was beyond thrilled when a simple Swagbucks search revealed that I could transfer my Clippings from one computer to another. It saved me a ton of time last night.

This is my first new computer in three years, and I think things went a lot more smoothly this time than they did the last time. That's extra important to me because I'm doing more online and even offline on my computer than I've ever done. If you have a tip to add, leave it in the comments - I'd love to make the switch even easier!