To go back in a more serious vein to Harold's original question: I asked the very same question on this list several years ago. Clint's advice then was that unless I was short of HD space and knew just what I was doing, I should leave it alone. I took his advice. Toni's advice, right on EasyCleaner (or perhaps this was on an earlier version), is that before you delete anything, you need to know, in each separate case, which alternative is the one you should keep, and if you don't know, leave it alone.
Furthermore, Harold, you asked this same question about two years ago. Remember?? In case you don't, I'm adding at the end of this message two responses that you got at that time. Have fun with them! I'm fascinated myself by that great list of duplicates (and even trips and quads), but I haven't found time to play with it. John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harold B." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "PC Works - LIST" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 10:17 AM Subject: PCWorks: Re: Duplicate files > Original Posting: > > I have a program called "EasyCleaner" ). This program finds duplicate > files and also cleans out unnecessary entries in the Registry. I tried a > section in that program to find "duplicate files" and looks like my OS is > loaded with them. <snip> > > > 1. Why are there duplicates? > > 2. Should I be concerned with them? > > 3. Why are they considered duplicates when they have different names? > > > Harold is this "Easy Clean" or "Easy Cleaner"? - -Clint > > It's EasyCleaner, just like I said. RESPONSE 1: Harold, This is the $64 Thousand question I personally have found. There are two common types of dupes that are found: 1) Text, Reference, and similar Files - these usually have a common name, such as XYZ.DOC, ABC.LOG, and so forth. Many programs, when they get installed or updated, commonly generate a LOG file of things that were done during the install. Likewise with DOC files and others. In many of these cases, the issue becomes one of historical reference, how to run reference, and other info that you would want to perserve or need in the future. With these files, you need to commonly take a look on a case by case basis to see what you you are dealing with. 2) Programm Files - these are sticky to deal with, and are the more common problem. These commonly have one usually in the windows or system folder/directory and then others that are with an individual program when the program got installed, such as ABC.DLL, XYZ.VXD, and so forth. The ONLY solution I personally have found for this class of problem, and seems to be the solution I have seen from others, is to take dupes and move to a central location, one at a time, run the program where you found the dupe originally, and see if it works with just the version that is in the windows or system folder/directory. If it works without a problem, then you can pretty safely get rid of the dupe; if not, then you will have to move back the dupe so the program will run with the version it is looking for in particular. The big problem is version numbers with many of these files, especially DLLs but also a number of other files that get referenced commonly, such as VXD, and others. Some programs will NOT run unless they find a particular version of a DLL or other file that it is looking for in particular. Others can very easily and nicely use the one that is common to windows. The other issue that you might have to deal with is if your system is a dual-boot type system, and you have one OS in a partition and another OS in a different partition, such as Win98 on Drive C: and Win2K/XP on Drive D:, for example. In this case, you have a different type of issue to remember - programs for one OS will be totally independent and unknown to the other OS, so files shown in one partition have nothing to do with files showing up in another partition with the same name - they are NOT dupes and need to be totally left alone. The same can also be seen when you install say Office97 to run under Win98 and Office2K/XP to run under that operating system. Then you have a similar situation as files showing up between the 2 OSs. Hopefully, this info will help with this problem. The thing I HATE the most is programs that install THEIR verison of a DLL or other commonly used file in the windows and/or system folder and it screws things up for other program on the system, since it is not a standard file to be looking for by other programs - BAH AND HUMBUG!!! Ralph Harold B wrote: > > Greetings from Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY. > > I received the following message from Lockergnome ... "DupeLocator v1.1 > [201k] W9x/2k/XP FREE ... http://www.midnightblue.com/dupelocater.htm > {Search and remove duplicate files} ... just what I need, one who is > always on a search and destroy mission to delete unnecessary files :) > > DupeLocater searches files for duplicates. It doesn't care about file > names or dates, only the contents of the files. Files are considered > duplicates if - and ONLY if - their entire contents are identical... bit > by bit. Duplicate files are the same size and contain the same data. > This program runs by itself, meaning no install required. Just download > the executable and run it. Open the utility, drag folders from your file > explorer into the program, and off it goes. I've tested it and it's > safe. Apparently, I have over 3,000 dupes, and most are courtesy of > Windows." > > MY QUESTION: How does one know which one of the duplicates is not > needed? And should the one remaining ever be deleted along with a > program that is no longer wanted, wouldn't that file go out with that > unwanted program, and wouldn't that leave one shy of a file needed by > the "other" (remaining) program? > > Harold B. RESPONSE 2: On 4 Jan 2003 21:31 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote, at least in part: > 2) Programm Files - these are sticky to deal with, and are > the more common problem. These commonly have one usually in > the windows or system folder/directory and then others that > are with an individual program when the program got installed, > such as ABC.DLL, XYZ.VXD, and so forth. > > The ONLY solution I personally have found for this class of > problem, and seems to be the solution I have seen from > others, is to take dupes and move to a central location, one > at a time, run the program where you found the dupe > originally, and see if it works with just the version that is > in the windows or system folder/directory. Welcome to DLL Hell! Another way to work the problem is to rename the files which you wish to de-activate. This makes it easier to reverse things if necessary. A utility which uses this approach is DDL Checker, <http://www.vb2java.com/>. The Trialware version has a help section "Working with DLLs" which talks about the general problem in an easy to understand manner. Just checked my main system and found 2406 DLL files, 573 of which comprise "duplicates" most of which have different version numbers. Karl ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
