How to Organize Downloaded Files

Cinnamon asked me a very good question over the weekend:

" Hi Dennis!

In an attempt to clean out old and/or unnecessary files, I accessed my Winzip files. In scanning through the list and opening (or attempting to) open them to find out what they belong to, I find it just a bit mind-boggling. It's very hard to tell what some of them are. Is there a guide one can use in attempting to delete some or all of them? I'm afraid I'll remove something that I need! Thanks, and keep up the great work! "

My Response:

Zip files are archived files and usually contain many files. Chances are you won't know what each file does unless you unzip and utilize the files ... but that takes too long.

One way to get around this is to include a brief description of the file before clicking on the "save" button (the second time the Save button is clicked, that is).

For example: File begins downloads as: iz_setup3.exe [click save]; Add in a quick description like this: 'internet zone iz_setup3.exe' [click save] Now I know what the file is.

I like to keep the original file name in there so that I know the version number of the program (usually), and so I can find the file again incase I forgot where I downloaded it from -- I can just do a quick search on Google for the file name and Google will provide me with all the web sites that contain that file.

When it comes time to clean up the hard drive, I know what file goes where and what files I can safely delete.