Auslogics Duplicate File Finder 6.1.4

Overview

Auslogics Duplicate File Finder is designed to delete duplicate files that are stored in your computer. It is a free and handy utility that doesn’t consume many system resources but can effectively free up a lot of disk space. Duplicate files don’t necessarily have the same name, so the program can search for them by content for more accurate results.

Installation

The installation goes normal until you reach the step where you’re asked if you would like to install Auslogics Toolbar. There you have to choose if you want to install the toolbar in your browsers, make Ask the default search engine and make Ask.com the browser’s home page and new tabs page. That’s quite a lot it asks, but you have the freedom of choice and can avoid making those changes. Then the installation process begins and finishes in a few moments.

If you have a Windows XP, 2003, Vista, 2008 or 7 OS then you won’t have any compatibility issues with the program.

Interface

The interface is modern and intuitive, without being overloaded with features. When the main window opens you will see the main screen, which is actually the first step of the searching process to find duplicate files. From the left side you can see a list of your hard drives available for scanning.

The steps that you follow before the search are few and easy. In the first one you choose which file types you want to look duplicate files for. Then you select the search criteria: if you want to ignore files smaller/larger than a custom size, file dates and names, and in the last step you are asked to choose how to delete the duplicate files found after the search (delete them to the recycle bin, to the rescue center or permanently). After making all those settings you click the Search button and the process will begin. Note that you can avoid making the same changes every time as you can click the Search button from the beginning.

The results will show up in a list afterwards and you can choose what to keep and what to delete.

Pros

The search is very customizable so you can set it to scan only for particular files with particular properties. Duplicate File Finder will run a full scan in all the defined search locations and show you accurate results, without missing or ignoring any. Even if the duplicate files don’t have the same name, using the MD5 search engine the program can search the files by their content, for even better results. So even if you have the same music files with different name, they will still show up in the results list.

If you are not sure what to do with the found files, you can send them to the rescue center. This creates a backup so that you can restore them in the future.

Cons

A feature that allows you to preview each file could be useful, so that you could take a look at the duplicate files to make sure they are the same, or decide which one to keep and which to delete. Right now the only help you have is the file path.

In addition, it doesn’t seem to handle network drives.

Alternatives

Duplicate Cleaner seems to be an equally good alternative, and unlike Duplicate File Finder it can scan network drives with ease. Apart from that their differences are small. Other duplicater file finders are CloneSpy, Duplicate File Finder, DupKiller, DoubleKiller and many, many others. All of the aforementioned programs are free to use.

Conclusion

There’s no doubt that Duplicate File Finder by Auslogics has some disadvantages and areas that need improvement, but its features and capabilities overshadow the cons.Go ahead and try it, it is unbelievable how many copies of the same music files you will find in your disk!