Duplicate files

Boy oh boy what a mess. I ran a search for duplicate files on my comp and was immediately confused by the results. How do I determine which files can be deleted? I've narrowed it down somewhat by only searching for files with the same size and date but which one do I delete. Which is the master file?

Are there any help files or tutorials that can help me with this? Any of you experienced gurus out there willing to help out a slow, but determined learner? Thanks.

-John

 

Deleting duplicate files is risky business.

For example, you may find 2 DLLs that are the same. One in \Windows\System and one in an application folder.
Which one can be deleted? The prime candidate "should" be the one in \System, BUT, this "may" be an older version that is required by the particular application. That is why it was installed there. You "could" delete it, and then test the application, BUT you would have to test every last piece of it, just to ensure that you had covered all the possible areas where that unique portion of that DLL was used.

Unless you are in severe need of freeing up disk space, I would recommend you just ignore these files. And, if you ARE in severe shortage of disk, there are better and safer ways of freeing up space.

 

Hi WhitPhil, yeah, I see what you mean. No, its not a pressing need to get space but once a year I usually format and reinstall. After the reinstall my space usage is about half of what I had before. I have assumed that duplicate files was the reason and therefore have undertaken the task to learn about removing the duplicates. But from what I've learned so far, I think I'll just stick with the yearly format. I posted here to see if someone could clear the fog for me, but I don't think thats possible. Much thanks anyway tho.

-John