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First, backups of critical files are, of course,
important, so any file cleaning needs to bear
this in mind. Second, you may have renamed
a file without changing its content, so a good
duplicate finder utility should not simply
match files by their names (which could be
disastrous if two completely separate files with
the same name get linked together), but also
by the file’s properties too, from its size to the
date it was last modified — that’s especially
important with digital photos that have been
downloaded from different cloud computing
providers, with each one naming them
differently.
And what about the legions of digital photos
cluttering up space on your hard drive? It’s not
uncommon to take five or more shots to
ensure you get one usable one, but what about
the rest? You only want to keep the best copy,
but manually trawling through all your photos
can be a daunting task. Panic ye not, as we’re
about to show you how the AntiDupl app
makes this job that bit simpler.
The end result should be this: you have one
master copy of your files, plus as many
backups as you need. These could be stored as
an exact backup copy in one backup folder
(which you’ll need to identify to make sure
it’s ignored by the duplicate file finder), or you
might have them backed up using a tool such
as Windows’ own File History, in which case
the backup won’t be touched by your file
weeding. All other copies — or slight
variations — are then candidates for removal.
What to
look for
when
cleaning up
duplicates
03
PERFORM CLEANUP
As you click a button for each result, it’ll disappear from the list, and the next item will come into
view. Work methodically through the list — you can select multiple items at once using Ctrl-click. If
you close the program, you can relaunch it later, and the results will be saved, ready for you to resume working.01
SET SEARCH PARAMETERS
In AntiDupl, go to Search > Options and tick ‘Search rotated and mirror image dupls’ if you wish. Now
select ‘Search > Paths’. Click ‘Add Folder’ to add a folder or drive to search — repeat for as many
locations as you need (you can search specific files for duplicates if you want a targeted search). Click OK.02
REVIEW RESULTS
Click the Play button and wait while the folders are searched and compared (click Background Mode
to minimise it to the System Tray). When the scan finishes, AntiDupl will pop up listing all found
duplicates and similar files. See the main text for advice on choosing what settings to choose for each find.[STEP BY STEP]
STREAMLINE YOUR PHOTO COLLECTION“THE END RESULT SHOULD
BE THIS: YOU HAVE ONE
MASTER COPY OF YOUR FILES,
PLUS AS MANY BACKUPS
AS YOU NEED.”FEATUREDEEP CLEAN YOUR WINDOWS PC