When was the last time?

@speakeasy (4171)
United States
July 3, 2011 12:36pm CST
When was the last time you went through your favorites/bookmarks to get rid of links that don't even work anymore? I went to one of my favorites to look up some information I "knew" was at that location - only to find that the entire site no longer existed! I had to search to locate the info I wanted on a different site. This made me wonder about other favorites - did they still exist or not? So, as soon as I got a little free time, I started at the top and started going through them one by one. I found links that no longer worked and links that I no longer had any use for in the first place. My favorites listing is much shorter now and they are currently all valid links. How frequently should I be checking my favorites? When is the last time you checked yours?
4 people like this
14 responses
@funnysis (2619)
• United States
3 Jul 11
I usually try to check my favorites list once a month to see if all the links are still good or if they are sites I am still interested in.I usually have some sites that are no longer there so I have to delete them.I wish you well and have a great day.
1 person likes this
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
3 Jul 11
Every month! WOW! I had not gone through mine since 2006. No wonder mine was such a mess.
@funnysis (2619)
• United States
7 Jul 11
WOW,that is a long time to not go through your favorites.I like to keep mine in order that way there is not a bunch of old links and links that don't work any longer.Have a great day.
@GardenGerty (160663)
• United States
3 Jul 11
I have not done a thorough housecleaning there, but I got rid of a few yesterday. I do not know how often we should check them. I also went through some of my e mail contacts last night.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
3 Jul 11
I should probably go through my email contacts too. I have not gone through them either. Now I am going to worry about how many of them are out of date also.
• Canada
3 Jul 11
Oh gosh... I don't do that nearly as often as I should. My bookmarks list is WAY too long and I just keep adding more Every time I go to use a bookmark I think that I should clean them out... and then something else takes priority. I guess it'll take me awhile to check them all but eventually I will
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
3 Jul 11
I know and every time I find a new site that is interesting I just have to add it so I can find it again. I have had too many times where I found a great site and later wanted to return to but couldn't remember the site or the search terms I used to locate it the first time. But, time passes quickly and so does the lifespan of some web sites.
1 person likes this
• Canada
6 Jul 11
I was actually thinking about that, based on your discussion, speakeasy. We bookmark sites because we find them interesting in the moment and we swear that they are places we are going to want to return to again and again. Yet, when you run down your list of bookmarks, do you realize that a great majority never got used? I noticed this with mine. I recognize the sites and think "oh yeah! I wanted to read that!" - but we spend so much time online, doing so many different things, that a lot of our intentions get lost and the list just keeps growing.
@alphenor (686)
• Philippines
4 Jul 11
I don't use bookmarks that much since I use the Speed Dial extension for my Chrome. I can automatically identify which site doesn't exist anymore since Speed Dial loads a preview of the website. If something's wrong with the preview, I view the site and remove it from my Speed Dial when it doesn't exist anymore.
@alphenor (686)
• Philippines
11 Jul 11
I said that Speed Dial is an extension, not a default portion of Mozilla Firefox.
@Cherish14 (2693)
• Philippines
3 Jul 11
woah! i actually just checked and got rid of the links i don't use anymore and are done with. what a coincidence i saw your discussion too heheh. i don't really use it that much, i don't really check so much sites. but i know it is also a good way to keep and store important links and find them easily for when you need it again.
@Cherish14 (2693)
• Philippines
3 Jul 11
there must just be some alterations in the link and that maybe it doesn't exist anymore. i hope you find what you're looking for soon. it really is better to find some stuffs right away to save some time and avoid some stress.
@dkboss (133)
• India
7 Jul 11
TODAY, I like to bookmarking many website while on surfing, bookmarking is good habit cause of not loosing good website ..
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
10 Jul 11
I know! There are so many wonderful sites with great information out there. Bookmarking is a great tool and wonderful way to not lose a great site. But, sometimes these sites disappear and then our bookmarks don't work any more.
@melanie652 (2524)
• United States
4 Jul 11
I cleaned up my bookmarks just a couple days ago. I didn't go through all of them, but did go through quite a few and deleted several. I go through my bookmarks every few months and delete some here and there.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
4 Jul 11
I figured if I didn't take the time to go through all of them I would never get it done. But, I don't think I will do it again for at least another year or two.
@CarlHalling (3617)
• United Kingdom
4 Jul 11
I'm pretty busy most days, but a few days ago I was really tired and just had the energy to check on my favourites at one or more of my e-mail addresses, some reaching back several years ago. And like you, I discovered that some of the links were no longer valid. And of course I deleted these. Then my energy levels were somewhat restored, and it was back to other tasks. But I'd like to do a little more work on my favourites in due course of time.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
4 Jul 11
It would be nice if there was a way for the favorites to check themselves and maybe change color when they are no longer any good. Like you I am very busy and I rarely find time to go through things. It was amazing how much time had passed since I save some of my favorites. Just going through them was a "trip down memory lane".
@LittleMel (8742)
• Canada
4 Jul 11
I did it last month I think I should do it again been adding more links since then so I will go through it again some of these links are gone anyway and somehow I keep the bookmarks there in my case I probably should check every month
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
4 Jul 11
I only kept one that didn't work and that one came up with a message saying the "site was under construction"; so, I will probably check on it in a month or two to see if it is still a site I want to keep or not. But, I really don't have time to check every favorite every month.
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
4 Jul 11
I went through my bookmarks a few day ago. I deleted the sites that didn't exist anymore and I deleted some sites that I wasn't interested in anymore. I also created some new categories. I am not completely done yet, I still have some old links that I need to organize (or delete?) but my bookmarks are already much easier to use, and that is very nice. I don't go through my bookmarks very often and many of the links that I had saved no longer existed. I also found some very interesting sites, that I had forgotten all about
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
4 Jul 11
I was happy to find some bookmarks for sites I had forgotten about; but, was sad to see others no longer existed at all.
@millertime (1394)
• United States
4 Jul 11
I go through my periodically but not as often as I should. Sometimes I find links to sites that I bookmarked at the time and now have no interest in but, like you, I have also found links to sites that no longer exist. It's kind of fun actually to go through the old bookmarks and see if the sites still are still active or not. I tend to let it go far too long and just keep adding bookmarks so there are probably a lot of them that I should delete. This discussion is actually a good impetus for me to get going on it. Thanks!
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
4 Jul 11
Glad I could help. Most of the time I only use a dozen or two regularly; but, I also have come across some very interesting sites that I want to be able to find again or explore more thoroughly and then they get saved. The problem is getting enough time to enjoy all of the ones I have saved. Too much internet - too little time!
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
3 Jul 11
I would have to say every couple of months or so, I really do give them a sweep to see what websites that are no longer active. Also got to keep those links that I bookmarked intended to take a look at later, but maybe only did once and too many links really just bother me in my favorites menu. In fact, I did some house cleaning a couple of weeks ago. Not too bad, as I hadn't bookmarked all that much within recent months. It really does depend on how much you bookmark. If you bookmark multiple sites a day, then you will need a bit more of a house cleaning, then someone who book marks maybe a few sites a month if that. I do think that I might be doing it a bit too often, but I am rather particular with how nice and tidy my bookmarks look and all that. So I tend to eliminate those no longer working or of no longer being used every couple of months.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
3 Jul 11
That is one reason that I like Internet Explorer - you can make folders to keep your favorites it. It is the one thing that I dislike about Firefox - when I downloaded Firefox - it said it was importing my favorites to the bookmarks; but, any favorite that was in a folder (and the folder itself) were not imported. Overall, I prefer Firefox as a browser; but, the bookmarks can quickly get out of hand.
@kaylachan (69664)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
3 Jul 11
I can't tell you how frequently to check your favorites lists. I almost never do. And no doubt my favorites don't exist anymore. Then again I bookmark websites that I go to frequently and I can't remember the exact urls too. That way if I clear my browser history, I can still type in the name (or part of the name) and the computer will find it for me. However, I would suggest checking them as frequently as you chose. If you find you have a long list, probably better to delete them rather than letting them weigh down your browser. Unedded plug-ins, book marks and such can cause trouble in the long-run. So if your browser seems to lag. Try that.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
3 Jul 11
Never had a problem with them slowing down my computer. The last time I remember deleting any was in 2006 and I am not sure if I actually went through all of them then or not.
@polaris77 (2040)
• Bacau, Romania
4 Jul 11
I go quite often to my favorites and check them out;I enjoy organizing them in folders so when I want to search for a site related to music I would know exactly in which folder my favorite music related sites are,and so on.I guess I check on my bookmarks twice a month,so I immediately know if there's any link that's not working or that doesn't interest me anymore.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
4 Jul 11
I had some of mine organized into folders; but, most were not. When I went through them all, I did finally get topic folders set up so now I can find them more easily when I do want them. The last time I had gone through all my favorites was sometime back in 2006! I probably won't check them all monthly; but, maybe once a year will work for me.