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Information

Duplicate File Finder helps you to free disk space by finding and removing duplicate files from your system. it is intended to search your system for duplicate files.

Duplicate File Finder, affectionately known as 'DupFiles', is a utility that identifies duplicate files in one or more paths. you can find this utility in the System Optimizers category of WinUtilities, Unlike other utilities that only check file names, Duplicate File Finder performs a binary comparison of file contents and can locate files that are alike regardless of names. 

Duplicate File Finder's scanning can be defined by path, file mask(s), and (optionally) with complex filters for size/date/attributes. Entire drive(s) can be scanned or specific path(s). Results can be copied to the windows clipboard or saved to a tab delimited file. Functions to delete files, launch Windows Explorer, and show file properties are available. The Windows Recycle Bin is used by default during deletions - Press Shift-Del to not use the Recycle Bin. You can also launch a file in the results list by double clicking. The results list is searchable and can be printed. The sort order of the results can be adjusted prior to generating the results. 

Duplicate File Finder Scanning Options

Duplicate File Finder Sample Screen

Duplicate File Finder is a 32 bit application for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003.

Duplicate File Finder is intended for: 

• General Users who need to check their 'documents' folders for duplicates that have accumulated. For example, if you tend to make temporary backups of various documents/pictures/etc while working on a project, Duplicate File Finder can be handy for disk cleanup and housekeeping.
• General and Technical Users who need to verify the integrity of backups. you can use Duplicate File Finder to scan just those two paths, with the expectation that you should see two of each file once the scan is complete.
• Technical Users who need to examine their entire disk for duplicates that have accumulated related to operating system files, program files, and the like.

Duplicate File Finder has no decision-making to tell you what is safe to delete or not. If you are a non-technical user, please read through the usage notes below for some general advice. Thanks.

• The paths to scan are determined in the Select Drives&Folders Page. This page is activated from the second step of Duplicate Files Finder Wizard. Upon initial installation and run, the program defaults to scanning all hard drives on your computer.  We recommend scans be done on specific paths, rather than starting with the root of a drive. For many users, a scan of C:\My Documents or perhaps C:\My Documents\My Pictures makes more sense than a scan of C:\ alone. Confining the scan to specific paths makes for faster operation and will also yield more meaningful results, especially if you are a 'non-technical' user.
• In addition to using the Paths to make a basic setting about where to scan, you can also use File Masks to control which files in those path(s) to scan or not. Basic File Masks are specified using * and ? wildcards. For example, *.jpg tells the program to check only .jpg files. More complex masks are possible using the Include/Exclude builder. Filters can also be used to, for example, scan for files that fall within a specified date or size range.
• It is normal for the Windows operating system to create/maintain duplicates. Sometimes many duplicates ;-) For example, the System Volume Information or _Restore type folders used by the Windows System Restore feature many have hundreds of duplicate files. These files should not be disturbed. Manually deleting any files from these paths will break System Restore. See below for more info.
• It is also normal for the \Windows operating system path to contain many duplicates. Windows uses these duplicates as part of uninstall features, system file backups, and the like. Do not delete any of these files unless you are very sure of what you are doing. 
• For reasons similar to the above we recommend that you do not delete duplicates from \Program Files unless you are very sure of purpose of the files you are about to delete. 
• Do not rely on the Windows Recycle Bin as a safety mechanism for large scale duplicate deletions. For example, DO NOT attempt to clean out files from \Windows with the idea that 'If something breaks I can just restore from Recycle Bin." Remember, the Recycle Bin is not limitless! Files you put there today may be gone forever two weeks from now.
• Use the File Mask field in the Search dialog to confine your search to specific file types. For example, if you are doing some housekeeping chores on your photo collection, using *.jpg for a File Mask will yield a cleaner listing. 
• If you must scan for all files from the root of a drive, consider using Include/Exclude feature to tell the program to skip one or more subdirectories. For example, a File Mask of 
     *.*;~\*\System Volume Information\*\*.*;~\*\Windows\*\*.*
  will keep the program from scanning System Volume Information and Windows. 
• Duplicate File Finder is not intended as utility to provide forensic, legal, court related, or high security guarantees that two or more files are identical. Please see the program F1 help for more information about the matching methods used by the program.
• Are you short of disk space and want to make that huge System Volume Information folder smaller? The disk space used by System Restore is governed by Windows. Check your Windows Help and Support function for more info about this. For most Windows flavors, Control Panel | System | System Restore has a settings button of some kind that you can use to adjust the disk space percentage used by System Restore.