Mike's NBC-TV stories

How to Clean the Clutter and Optimize Your Smartphone

Our smartphones and tablets give us access to information and entertainment faster than ever so it can be pretty frustrating when those devices suddenly start slowing down or run low on space.

Fortunately, there are some simple and effective iOS-, Android-, and Windows Phone-based apps to declutter our devices.

Memory & Disk Scanner Pro is for iPhone and iPad and can help declutter your device by determining how system resources are being used. The dashboard displays memory and disk use, allowing users to see detailed information about processes and apps running. There’s even a way to seen how much space is being used by junk files and easily remove them. There is a free version available, but you’ll need to pay 99 cents to use it beyond the trial period.

Android users will want to try the Clean Master app. Clean Master detects and removes junk files. Users can even see details about the junk files to see them categorized by type. The company behind Clean Master says an average cleaning deletes 340MB of space. Clean Master also optimizes storage and memory. The app is free.

And for those Windows Phone users, there’s Cache Cleaner Pro. It reclaims space by emptying a phone’s cache and deleting unnecessary files and unwanted apps. The Windows Phone app is free.

Mike is a veteran journalist whose video "PC Mike" reports have been distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations since 1994, making him one of the most experienced tech reporters in the country. His tech stories and videos have appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, the Today Show, The New York Times, USA Today and in numerous national newspapers and magazines. In addition to the PC Mike tech blog, he also publishes the Roadtreking.com RV Travel Blog in which he travels North America in an RV reporting about interesting people and places.