What you need: Windows; Excel or other spreadsheet program Time required: One hour
Duplicate files aren’t only a waste of space: they’re a waste of time too. The more files you have to search through when looking for a particular photo or document, the longer the process will take. Then, when you’ve edited, saved and closed a file, how do you know it was the right one? If there are two very similar versions in different locations on your drive you could end up making every edit twice over. Or, worse, where entire folders of files have been replicated, you might edit some files in one, different files in the other, and end up thoroughly confused.
Removing duplicates should be easy, especially given so many products promise to do it for you. The trouble is, some also charge for the privilege. Thankfully, there are some tricks you can try before you spend any money. As we reveal, Windows already has many of the tools you need built in. Here, we’ll also explore advanced Windows searches and explain how to save your searches, create batch files and analyse data using a spreadsheet.
