Duplicate file remover

[Headtheball]

Is there a good (Free) duplicate file remover out there? when I run a search
through my picture files they seem to be repeated several times. Can anyone
also tell me which files I can safely delete?

 

[Jym]

Headtoballs,
If you are in doubt , do not delete any. Jym

 

[Wesley Vogel]

dupfinder.exe it's on your XP CD.

Windows Support Tools on the CD
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...wsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/tools_intro.asp

To install Windows Support Tools
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...wsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/tools_howto.asp

 

[Tom]

dupfinder.exe it's on your XP CD.

I would not recommend to anyone to use that, as it remove files of the same
name, but may have the need for them anyway. It will not remove duplicates
in one fell swoop, one has to go down the list and remove them individually,
which wouldn't be fun.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

What would you recommend? That removes in one fell swoop?

Not removing duplicate files in one fell swoop is a good thing.
Even with something like EasyCleaner you're best off to
look at the files and remove them one at a time, if at all.

 

[Tom]

What would you recommend? That removes in one fell swoop?

Not removing duplicate files in one fell swoop is a good thing.
Even with something like EasyCleaner you're best off to
look at the files and remove them one at a time, if at all.

I recommend nothing of the sort, none are safe. Run it yourself, and compare
files, they may look the same but? And most files listed are in the TIF
folder from different accounts which is best handled by using the Internet
Option delete files option. Using Add/remove Programs when uninstalling
proggies does the the right job also.

I ran the DUpfinder one time, and it told me I had 758 megs of dup files, of
which none were dups, they had the same file names, but for different
pruposes as a further look showed me such. I only am using just over 5 gigs
on my system partition, and I doubt serious that there are 758megs of dupes!
It is best to let windows handle it, and use the tools that are installed
for deletion, instead of toys.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

I do use dupfinder.exe. Thank you very much.

 

[Tom]

I do use dupfinder.exe. Thank you very much.

That's fine Wes, you may know how to determine what is not needed, but to
recommend it to tohers is not good advice, as even the help/about in
Dupfinder offers no knowledge base. If you follow how to really use it, it
is long and tedious process, and looking over and over again the files for
deletion gets old.

Read here from Microsoft Support regarding the use of this utility, and it
offer a strong warning! In any event, it is really best not to tell other to
use it, when they don't really know how, or at least offer a warning:

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...de/en-gb/utility3.asp#XSLTSection126121121120

"This is one of the most useful utilities within the Support Tools
pack, although it should be used with extreme caution. Anyone looking to
remove unnecessary files will find it essential. It comes with a Windows
interface so you're off to a good start. Scan your hard disk or select a
folder and search for any duplicate files. If you decide you don't need
certain files anymore, don't delete them straight away. Instead, rename them
first in case it turns out to be a file you actually need. You can do this
by right clicking on a file and choosing rename. All you will need to do is
change its three letter ending to something innocuous like .old. Then if you
discover later on that you needed it after all, simply revert the .old back
to what it was originally."

 

[Jym]

Many questions are asked on this help group that deal with the availability
or the possibility to use software with Xp . I do not think that we may know
the posters expertise or reason when asking about a software product. Do
they want our biased opinion on the product , or just the information that
they have inquired about ? Jym

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Good point, Jym!

 

[Tom]

Many questions are asked on this help group that deal with the availability
or the possibility to use software with Xp . I do not think that we may know
the posters expertise or reason when asking about a software product. Do
they want our biased opinion on the product , or just the information that
they have inquired about ? Jym

Well, you don't seem to know the difference between opinion, and giving
facts. I only stated that people shouldn't offer these proggies to ones that
wouldn't know what to do with them. they can cause real damge to a system.
Why one doesn't offer caution to these, shows a real lack of offering good
advice; it is one thing to know how to use them, another to know how to
advise to use them.

 

[Jym]

Facts can become opinions depending on who is issuing them . For a example ,
I use Regcleaner 4.3 , and have so for a long time with XP . There are
people that will say never to use this product with XP because it will
delete needed files. Well I have never had one problem with this product ,
therefore can I state as a "fact" that this software product is safe to use
and recommend it ? Jim

 

[Tom]

Facts can become opinions depending on who is issuing them . For a example ,
I use Regcleaner 4.3 , and have so for a long time with XP . There are
people that will say never to use this product with XP because it will
delete needed files. Well I have never had one problem with this product ,
therefore can I state as a "fact" that this software product is safe to use
and recommend it ? Jim

There's a difference between you and others, and the problem with that kind
of thinking is the tendency to think others will know how to user them too.
Keep in mind, most who ask for help, don't know as much as you, so it is
arrogant to think otherwise, but prudent to think they don't know as much,
and offer the cautionary.

If you told someone to use Regcleaner (which by the way, is stated in the MS
Knowledge base to NEVER use), and they thehn screwed something up, and came
back to say something to that effect, do you feel you could have at least
told them to use extreme caution.

That is why (and I am guessing here) that you and Wes do not work in IT or
reputable Computer stores, if other than to read scripted help.

 

[Jym]

It appears that some proclaimed IT professional may believe what they say
should be interpreted as fact. But this cannot be counted on. The product
that I have given as a example is not the product that you claim in the
unknown MS Knowledge Base article that you speak of prior. Jouni Vuorio
Regcleaner 4.3 is not a MS product and I would doubt that MS would
unfavorable comment on a third party software vendor. It is good to give
good advise , but not to suggest that is "fact" , is also good .Jym

 

[Tom]

It appears that some proclaimed IT professional may believe what they say
should be interpreted as fact. But this cannot be counted on. The product
that I have given as a example is not the product that you claim in the
unknown MS Knowledge Base article that you speak of prior. Jouni Vuorio
Regcleaner 4.3 is not a MS product and I would doubt that MS would
unfavorable comment on a third party software vendor. It is good to give
good advise , but not to suggest that is "fact" , is also good .Jym

I am no IT Pro, just making the assumption that you are not, as along with
your disregard to offer caution to others with (your) advised attempts to
use such programs that do what you know according to your experience with
them. You avoided answering the "what if" someone got screwed by your advice
without caution though, so your neglect to answer speaks volumes about
offering "good" advice as opposed to just plug-n-chug advice and hope they
know what you know.

Most of the experts here will tell you that even Juoni's program and/or any
registry cleaner will not be advised for use, XP takes care of the registry
just fine. I have heard of his (Juoni's) programs before, and would never
advise anyone to have another program take care of the registry, or to
remove duplicate files, especially when they may not know what they are
doing.

 

[Jym]

The point that I have been trying to make when I chose to tag on to this
thread , is to "not" give advice on a software product. There are so many
opinion on any product , and some will give theirs as being fact , which or
course it is not. Let's not confuse the newby more than they were before
they posted in the first place. Giving a related answer to one's question
without prejudicial opinion seems to be the correct way . Experts are the
designer of the products that are being discussed and not "the experts here"
.. Jym

 

[Headtheball]

Thanks guys but I am still none the wiser, is it safe to use dupfinder or
not? Also I thought the idea of finding and deleteing duplicate files was to
regain some extra disk space not to rename them and save them, isn't it
defeating the object somewhat?

 

[Jym]

Just as a test , I have given Dupfinder a try. My goal was to use it to
eliminate duplication on a back up of My Documents , which I store most all
of my downloads. This seem to work well . But before I deleted the extra
files ( about three ) , I made sure they were the exact copies and not
version update. Using it to do a complete check of the C drive gave hundreds
of hits with file names that were not recognizes. So I have come to the
conclusion that it can work find on the small scale , but to use it to check
the entire drive and do deletions , forget it! . Jym

 

[Guest]

Just want to say "Wesley Vogel" you da man. If your ever around long island
i'll buy you a beer. thanks for dupfinder.exe running it right now. be good