The tools I uninstall every quarter
A short ritual that has kept my laptop, and my attention, in shape.
Once a quarter I sit down with my laptop and uninstall every application I have not opened in the previous ninety days. Not "every app I think I might use." Every app whose icon I have not actually clicked. The distinction is the whole point.
What goes#
The note app I tried in January. The screenshot tool that came with a plugin I no longer need. The third "for sure this time" focus app of the year. Two clients for services I have stopped using. A media app I installed for one trip. A pile of menu-bar utilities that I had silently forgiven for the small slowdown they cost.
The list is depressingly long every quarter. The cleanup takes about forty minutes including the time spent justifying things to myself.
What stays#
Everything I touched in the last ninety days. About thirty applications, plus the system defaults. The list is shorter than I expect every time. I am surprised, every quarter, how few apps I actually use.
What I do not do#
I do not reinstall on the day I find a new use for one. I wait a week. If the use is real, the week does not undo it. If the use was a passing mood, the week saves me from a return trip.
What the ritual is actually for#
It is not about disk space. The laptop has enough disk space. It is about the inventory in my head of what is available to me. Fewer applications means fewer decisions in a working day, and fewer decisions means more attention left for the work that matters.