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The Web Worker Daily blog reminds us that today is National Clean Out Your Computer Day. Want to do some serious PC cleaning but not sure where to start? We’ve got your back, so let’s get with the purging.

Photo by karindalziel.

Clean Out Your Inbox

One of the first places you’ll probably find bogged down with a bunch of junk you don’t need is your email inbox. If you use Gmail to manage your email, follow these simple steps to free up loads of space without losing important emails. Once you’ve wrestled your inbox into submission, assign a Trusted Trio of three folders to keep your inbox clean: Follow Up, Archive, and Hold.

Daring productivity mavens may want to take this tip a step further and try out our own Gina Trapani’s idea and eliminate the Archive folder:

Gmail comes with an archive area built in: click on the “All Mail” link to see it. When you archive a message in Gmail (either by clicking the Archive button, selecting the menu option or hitting the E key), the message gets yanked out of your inbox and archived in the “All Mail” view. That means there’s no need for the Trusted Trio’s Archive folder. That is, you only need Follow Up and Hold buckets.

Give Your Filesystem a Thorough Once-Over

Now that your inbox is looking svelte, let’s move on to the stuff going on around your PC’s system. If you think your computer may have been infected with some form of malware but have been putting off hunting it down, you’ll want to find a solid, deep-cleaning malware-removal tool and get rid of what ails you. Once you’ve done that, get a better deadbolt on your system with some reliable antivirus software. (In fact, around Lifehacker HQ we tend to think that Windows security tools are pretty great.)

Even after you’ve removed the malware, you may still have quite a few uninstalled-then-forgetten apps sitting around cluttering up your system. To completely get rid of your unwanted apps, try previously mentioned Revo Uninstaller (we’re happy with the free version).

Once you’ve relieved your PC of all the garbage that was weighing it down, make sure it stays in pristine condition with an automated Windows file cleaner like CCleaner (which you can automate to run nightly), and keep your oft-used folders organized with Adam Pash’s Belvedere. Use Windows’ built-in Scheduled Tasks, to make sure your hard drive performs regular health maintenance tasks.

Clean Out Your Hardware Dust Bunnies

Now that your PC’s brain is purring along, let’s give its innards a good cleaning, too. Don’t be intimidated at the thought of opening its case to evacuate PC dust bunnies. Grab a Phillips head screw driver, some mechanical oil with a dropper, and a can of compressed air, then get to work.

These are a few of our favorite ways for cleaning up our PCs in honor of National Clean Out Your Computer Day, but we know you’ve got your own great suggestions, too, so let’s hear them in the comments.

Firefox: Have a phrase or snippet of code you use all the time in Firefox? Assign a text or keyboard shortcut to it in Firefox and never have to write it all out again.

Once you’ve installed MyWords, a menu option is added to your right-click context menu any time you click in a dialogue box or after highlighting text. From the menu you can add words or phrases to MyWords or tweak the general setup of MyWords.

To use the phrases stored in MyWords you can either use a simple keyboard shortcut to scroll through them (handy if you only have a few) or if you have many shortcuts stored you can turn the keyboard shortcut into an auto complete flag. In the screenshot above we’ve assigned “teotwawki” to “IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT”. If we had MyWords set to autocomplete we could hit the shortcut trigger and then type “teo” to give it a hint and it would auto complete the full phrase.

MyWords is handy if you’re only using auto complete in Firefox, if you want to use it elsewhere on your PC check out homegrown Texter and previously reviewed PhraseExpress.

MyWords is free and works wherever Firefox does. Have a text-replacement or time-saving tool that makes Firefox even more awesome? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Readers offer their best tips for backing up Google Calendar in two clicks, easily ejecting removable media in Windows 7, and staying warm without overpaying for heating.

Don’t like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page.

About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they’re a bit too niche, maybe we couldn’t find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn’t fit it in—the tip didn’t make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments or email it to tips at lifehacker.com.

Easily and Safely Eject Removable Media in Windows 7

Ranganathan shares a discovery he made in the new version of Windows:

I observed this today: Windows 7 has a single “Eject” option (in the Explorer context menu) that works as ’safely remove’ for media like USB drives, SD cards, etc. Vista had two separate options, and XP didn’t have any context menu option to ’safely remove’ media!

Creating a Shortcut to Sync Google Calendars

Garrett shows us how to sync Google Calendars with just a double click:

I manage several different work schedules on Google Calendars. To protect my meticulous editing from the few non tech savvy users with admin privileges, frequent backups are a must. To get all of your calendars as .ics files stuffed into a .zip file, simply create a desktop shortcut with the following link:

http://www.google.com/calendar/exporticalzip

As long as you’re logged into Google in your default browser, backups are just a double click away!

Make Your Radiator More Efficient

Photo by Todd Baker.

Thomas shares a tip to keep the heat in:

If you have radiator heat, wrap a large piece of cardboard or plywood with aluminum foil, and place it between the radiator and the wall.

It will help to reflect the heat back into the room instead of being absorbed by the wall. Helped out on the long winters in Pittsburgh.

A quick Google search shows some more anecdotal support for this tip, but specifies that the aluminum should be shiny side out.

Warm Cold Hands with Candles

Photo by Jo Guldi.

Casey lets us know how he keeps his hands warm in a cold office:

I suffer from frost damage which leads to my hands becoming uncomfortably cold while reading/typing in the office as the weather turns. For a long time I kept a large cup of tea that I could grasp to warm my hands, but that lead to cold tea. Recently I’ve started keeping a votive candle lit at my desk (any candle that is completely contained by a glass cylinder would work.) Now, whenever my hands get chilly, I can grasp the candle. The closer to the top the hotter the glass gets. No more cold hands, or cold tea. Plus the candle adds to the atmosphere of my office.

Windows only: Free application Explore&Burn adds an entry to your right-click context menu that allows you to quickly burn files and folders to CD or DVD.

This right-click utility is dead simple: Click any file, folder, or disk image (e.g., ISO, IMG), select the Burn to disc context menu option, and go through the very quick burning wizard. The application supports most types of burnable media (including Dual Layer discs) and skips the bloat that accompanies a lot of burning software, opting instead for a completely pared down interface and footprint.

Explore&Burn is freeware, Windows only.