Spring clean your digital devices

This spring, as you begin to clean and organize areas of your home or office, don’t forget to set aside a few hours to declutter your digital devices too. 

Use springtime as an annual reminder and these simple steps to protect your devices and sensitive information:

  • Check to see if you are using a long, unique password for each of your online accounts.
  • Set up multi-factor authentication to protect your personal and business information. 
  • Review privacy settings to ensure that you are not sharing sensitive information.
  • Enable your devices to automatically update software.
  • Activate the screen-lock settings to protect your data from theft or damage.
  • Purge any old files such as email, documents, images and downloads that are no longer needed. Review the University Record Retention and Disposition Regulation before you delete work files.
  • Reset unwanted devices to the factory default setting before you dispose of them. You can bring in personal electronics to campus and recycle them in the yellow electronic recycling bins.
    NOTE: The Office of Information Technology recommends that you recycle securely erased university-owned electronic media. For more information, visit Secure Data Removal at NC State

If you have any additional questions about how to secure university data or dispose of university-owned devices, contact the NC State Help Desk via the NC State IT Service Portal or call 919.515.HELP (4357).