Create a simple ‘startup reset’ routine: press Ctrl+Shift+Esc, sort by Startup impact, and disable anything you do not use daily, then run Windows Search for ‘Storage Sense’ and turn it on to automatically clear temp files every day so you never hit the slowdown wall again.

Ask the AI to show its steps and sources by adding a line like ‘List your sources and say if you are guessing’ at the end of your question, then copy any important claim into a quick web search or YouTube search to confirm it before you act on it, especially for health, money or legal topics.

Create one folder on the desktop called ‘Desk Dump’, press Command + A on the desktop, drag everything into that folder in one go, then use Finder’s ‘Recents’ view and simple subfolders inside ‘Desk Dump’ to quickly sort only the files you actually touched this week and ignore the rest for now.

Give it 24 hours to finish background indexing, then open Settings > Battery, sort by the last 24 hours and uninstall or restrict background activity on the top one or two power‑hungry apps instead of guessing, and finally turn off ‘Background App Refresh’ for anything you do not truly need live all the time.

Forget the network, then reconnect but this time tap the Wi‑Fi network name, choose ‘Advanced’ and turn off any ‘Smart network switch’ or ‘Switch to mobile data’ option so your phone stops second‑guessing your connection and stays locked to a stable signal.

Set ‘Active hours’ to match your real schedule, then turn off automatic restarts for updates and use a quick desktop shortcut that runs `shutdown /s /t 0` when you are truly done for the day so Windows only restarts when you say so.

Before turning on the new laptop, sign into your main cloud account on the old one, place all important files into a single “Move Me” folder inside Documents or Desktop, and sync only that folder to a cloud service like OneDrive or Google Drive. Then on the new laptop, sign in to the same account, download just that folder, and only after confirming everything is there, export and import your browser passwords, which keeps the migration simple and easy to double‑check.

Skip the booster apps and instead open your phone settings and clear just the cache of your heaviest apps like social media and browsers, then uninstall any apps you have not opened in 30 days and set your wallpaper to a static image instead of live. This light cleanup frees memory and processing power without touching your photos or messages and usually gives an instant speed boost.

Treat AI like a helper who needs a short briefing: in one message tell it who you are, what you are trying to do, your skill level, and how long you have, then ask it to answer in numbered steps and stop after 5 points. This simple “mini brief” instantly makes replies shorter, clearer, and tailored to you instead of generic tech babble.

Turn on iCloud Photos only long enough to sync everything, then download your full photo library to a computer or external drive and switch to Optimize iPhone Storage. After you confirm a second backup in a non‑Apple service like Google Photos or OneDrive, you can safely turn off iCloud Photos and delete iCloud backups to free space without losing memories.