Tips for Organizing Cords

A reader offered up a couple of handy tips for organizing cords.

“I am changing out my deceased UPS for the new model.  Several cords to pull around.  I am not fortunate enough to have a custom-built space with lots of above-the-desk outlets, or even enough outlets anywhere.  So, the UPS lives on the floor.  That means a lot of crawling under the computer table, and pulling cords and cables past the back of the table.  G-r-r-r-r!  If you don’t have a helper to grab and hold one end, it can be challenging to woozle them through the available space.

Solution:  Attach a piece of wide tape (duct, carton, whatever) several inches long to the top of the table.  Fold over the table end so you have a pick-up handle.  Let the other end dangle over the edge of the table.  Stick the cord or cable onto the dangling end of the tape.  Pick up the tape from the top of the desk and pull up the cord!

Voila!

Companion tip, which I have been using for a long time, for occasions on which you need to take the computer into your local guru’s shop:  As you pull the cords and cables off the back of the tower, tape them down to your table along with a note about what is the attached device and which port it is using.  Although for USB ports, it’s not necessary to connect the device back into the same port, Windows sometimes displays the flukey behavior of discovering and installing “new” devices if you change the port, so it’s best not to if your device has been working correctly.”

Both are very good ideas, especially keeping a list of which device goes with which port. Two suggestions I’ll offer up from my days of working in the multi-cabled land of television are cable ties to keep cords from getting bunched together. They work great for both computer and TV cables.

Thanks for sharing your tip, Patricia! Anyone else have some good cable organization tips to share? Let me know!