Windows 10: Find and delete duplicate files in Windows 10

Does Microsoft have a duplicate file finder that will find any files, not just photos?

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

finding and deleting duplicate files

Download and install DupeGuru from
http://www.hardcoded.net/dupeguru. Be sure to use the correct version for your operating system, including 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows.

Proceed to install it...

Step 2: Select a folder to scan

Launch DupeGuru and you’ll be asked to select which folders to scan. It’s worth limiting this scan so that it completes quickly while you familiarise yourself with the program, so click the + button and select your My Documents folder, then click the Scan button.

Step 3: Check the list of found files

DupeGuru will then scan the selected folder and display a list of files that it thinks are identical, based on their content, with the ‘original’ file highlighted in blue. The list also shows the size of each file for a quick manual comparison and a Match column
that shows how confident DupeGuru is that the files are the same.

Step 4: Delete or move the duplicate files

Once you’re satisfied that the duplicate files have been correctly identified, select Mark All from the Mark menu to select the duplicates. Then, using the Actions menu, you can delete the duplicates or move them all to another folder, regardless of where they
are currently. This is often a better option, since you can delete the files later, when you’re completely sure you don’t need them.

Step 5: Find duplicate files in other ways

Select Preferences from the View menu to see DupeGuru's various options. Here you can select whether to compare files by Filename, Contents or Folders (duplicate folders). If you use the Filenames option, you can also select the Filter Hardness to match similar
filenames, as well as identical ones — the ‘harder’ this setting, the more exact the match.

Finding duplicate images

Finding duplicate images is rather more involved, since a computer can’t compare the content of an image file in the same way as a document. So this requires a separate application — DupeGuru Picture Edition. This is also a free download for Windows, Mac and
Linux and works in almost the same way.

Step 1: Download and install DupeGuru

Download and install DupeGuru as before. It used to have a separate version called DupeGuru PE (Picture Edition), but now all the features are rolled into the standard edition. Again, be sure to use the correct version for your operating system, including 32-bit
or 64-bit versions of Windows.

Step 2: Scan for duplicate photos

Launch the program and select one or more folders to scan. This might take longer than scanning for documents, as images are generally bigger file sizes. When it’s complete, be sure to use the Details view to compare the duplicate images to check they’ve been
correctly identified before moving or deleting them. Though DupeGuru is remarkably accurate.

Step 3: Find photos that are almost idenitcal

DupeGuru can also identify images that are not quite duplicates, such as two photos of the same subject where you moved the camera slightly. You may not want to keep these near-duplicates, so select Preferences from the View menu and reduce the Filter Hardness
slider to match more images.

You’ll need to experiment with this to get the best results and be sure to only delete the files you no longer want — DupeGuru has no idea which ‘original’ you want to keep.

Source:

http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/computing/how-t...

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised
on the site before you decide to download and install it.

 

How to remove duplicate files in Windows 10.

Steve, I used CloneSpy and it provided me a list of all the duplicates and I was able to delete the ones that I wanted without loss of any of my files that I wanted to keep. I personally checked the location of the files before deleting to ensure that I
deleted the ones that I wanted to delete. Since this was a free program you have nothing to lose by installing and see what it provides it does have several methods to delete the files which I found to be a big plus. I hope that this gives you the peace
of mind that it will do as you want and not destroy your files, at least it did for me and I suggest the more diligent you are in deleting the happier you'll be. I got rid of 25GB of duplicates and all is running as normal. Note I am a retired IT executive
with my entire career in management so if I could feel safe I believe you should also in downloading and checking out this program.