Get rid of all those duplicate files and photos

Alan wants to delete duplicate files and photos
How do I remove duplicate files/photos?

Our answer
Unless you’re a masochist and want to spend a decade removing duplicate files one by one, you need to use a duplicate file finder program to remove duplicate files and photos. And there are dozens of duplicate file finders out there. Many of them are feature-limited freeware. Some are bundlers. Some are dangerous as they can remove the files you want to keep. Some are difficult to use, and some are confusing to use.

IMPORTANT: Before using any duplicate file finder program, remove all CDs and USB flash drives from your computer. Also if you have a digital camera, make sure it’s not connected to the PC while you’re running the duplicate file finder program. There may be identical files on USBs, CDs, and camera card as the ones on your PC — these are not duplicates. You’re looking for duplicates on your hard drive. So remove any flash drives, CDs, DVDs, or camera cards from your computer before looking for duplicate files.

About the easiest and safest one we’ve tested is Auslogics Duplicate File Finder, available from http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/duplicate-file-finder/  . It’s easy to use and fairly safe when used as directed. You always have to use caution with these kinds of programs and make sure you specify exactly what you want to remove. So use this program — or any duplicate file finder with care. If you have backed-up your photos and other files and CD or DVD they’ll have the same names as the files on your computer – so make sure you remove any backup media before you scan for duplicate files — otherwise you could create a problem as any duplicate file finder will find all duplicate files on any connected drive (like an external hard drive you’re using for backing up) or media (flash drives, CDs, and DVDs)

One note. The download comes from CNet. Use caution. CNet seems to seesaw back and forth between offering bundled software and clean software. When we downloaded this program there was nothing bundled with it. We can’t guarantee there won’t be when you do. Use care when installing this or any software program that you pay close attention during the installation process that you uncheck any boxes that want to install things you don’t want and don’t need.

Here’s some information from the Auslogics Duplicate File Finder Website:

Auslogics Duplicate File Finder

Finds identical pictures, documents and any other files
Compares files not only by names, but by their content
Can significantly increase free space on your disk
Helps you to organize your media collections
Reduces time needed to defragment your hard drive

Find Duplicate Files and Free Up Disk Space
Daily computer activity inevitably leads to accumulating identical files on your computer, especially if you are an active PC user. You may download gigabytes of music and video files, documents and applications from the Internet, share these files with your friends and not even realize how many same files may be collected on your hard disk from such activity.
Keeping unnecessary duplicates on your computer means wasting valuable hard disk space. Auslogics Duplicate File Finder will find and delete these files so you won’t experience lack of free disk space!

Find duplicate files by content
Auslogics Duplicate File Finder has the MD5 search engine which allows the program to search for duplicate files by content, regardless of other match criteria. It would be helpful, for example, when two identical mp3 tracks or video files have different names…”

Always use caution when using a program of this type. Be sure you’ve compared the duplicates and you’re sure they really are duplicates.

We hope this helps you find and remove all your duplicate files and photos, Alan.