Duplicate finder....confusion

[brumby45]

Hi all, I have just run Duplicate finder for the first time and I am completely confused as to what to do next.....do I delete everything it shows me or just one(if there are two alternatives) and if so which one, or do I just delete all, assuming that Ccleaner has left a working version somewhere on my PC?????   I would appreciate replies in non 'techy' speak please!! Many thanks, brumby45

[mta]

User Beware !!!

 

The results shown by File Finder are to be taken very cautiously.

Many believe, myself included, it does not go down deep enough (like comparing checksums) to truly show duplicate files.

And even if it did, no-one but you can definitively say that file photo1.jpg in \My Pictures\Kids Birthday is the same (or not the same) as photo1.jpg in \My Documents\Holiday Snaps

 

If you let it automatically run through and remove what it considers to be duplicates, I can almost guarantee you will break something.

I would suggest you use its list as a starting point to eye-ball each file and then you decide which ones can be removed.

If unsure, leave it.

 

If you proceed, at least have a recent, reliable backup in place.

 

 

Edit: and I forgot - Welcome !

[brumby45]

Many thanks

[azloafer]

What good is the duplicate file finder when we are supposed to decide what goes. I do not understand all the duplicate files and what they do so I'm at a loss. Up to this point I have not removed any files because I am not sure if they are needed.

I read something on the net that some duplication of files is necessary to the system. I don't understand Ccleaner showing hundreds of duplicated files which I am afraid to delete.

[Nergal]

The good is to use filters and only remove files such as docs, movies, pictures or music which might be duplicated.

 

One should NEVER do anything like registry or duplicated or system file removal EVER without knowing and deciding.

 

How would a relatively simple small application be able to make logic leaps you yourself are unwilling/unafraid to do.

 

It has no idea what might be a good or bad file. To even begin being able to do that, it would need an ever evolving huge database; think in terms of your antivirus' daily definitions and MB - as big as or bigger than ccleaner itself - sized files containing them. And still, in all honesty, I wouldn't suggest running blindly if it were to hold such a database.

 

Stand alone duplicate finders don't even know what they are doing without user "knowledge", why should a second-thought tool in a junk cleaning tool?

 

Note, this is just my opinion, I'm not saying anything but my own thoughts on the post above

 

[Andavari]

I don't understand Ccleaner showing hundreds of duplicated files which I am afraid to delete.

 

My opinion: Then it's a best practice to avoid it and don't use it. I pretend it's not even in CCleaner as dup finders end up causing problems especially if people start haphazardly deleting system files which could have multiple copies on any given system.

 

 

Supposedly according to Piriform it verifies files as dups via a checksum/hash which is NOT visible to the end-user (I personally think it should show the checksum/hash) to determine dups - like how Nirsoft's HashMyFiles does. And Piriform didn't state what strength/level the checksum/hash was when questioned if it did any verification - if it's by chance CRC32 (and I hope not) that's utterly useless and should never be trusted, and if it's MD5 now according to some security experts MD5 isn't secure anymore either, but since they don't say what it uses I've no ideal.