Do you really need your Bookmarks?

(or old mail in the Inbox for that matter)

I have outlived a good number of different web browsers already: Netscape Navigator 3.0, Netscape Communicator 4.0, Mozilla, Opera etc. Sometimes I’d transfer the bulk of bookmarks over to a new browser, other times I’d … just forget. And you know what? I never cared.

Really, all computer files I’ve ever created (C sources, shell scripts, mailboxes – everything) are stored in my archives, “just in case”. Internet bookmarks are no exception: they all are available to me within the personal archives, kept from the day I met the Internet. Yet I don’t use them.

I think Google made them obsolete. How much more convenient it is to type a couple of words into a search bar of an industry-leading data-miner than to wade thru your homegrown “directory”! Besides, every such act (of searching) adds a bit of value to the miner’s database.

Other people just remember what they need the most, so they tend to refer to their records less often (and rely on the gift of their memory and intuition more).

If you think you still depend on your bookmarks feature, think it over. Imagine it’s the end of the world. Start afresh. See how easy it is. Feel how little (if at all) you loose from such a huge move!

In fact, I’ve come to this “idea” from the numerous “email productivity advices”. They tell you how to stop the email overwhelming you. The solution is simple: Clear your Inbox.

I’ve never done that thing with the inbox on purpose. However, in the course of a few upgrades I’ve left my then current Inboxes in the old systems (remember – all my files from all my life are almost immediately available to me anytime) with the intent to “merge” those unread/unanswered mails into a new system on a spare minute. As you guessed it, I felt little urge to touch that trash ever after, so I actually have experienced the famous email advice. Surprisingly, it works wonders.

(Instead of deleting items straight out, you can try an alternative – the DMZ trick, which is applicable to bookmarks overload as well as to email)

  1. Open your email program and create a new folder called “DMZ
  2. Go to your email inbox and Select All
    • You might alternatively choose all email older than n days
  3. Drag those emails from your inbox into the DMZ folder
  4. Go, and sin no more.
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