Question ...cleaning HD w/ Easycleaner

[jlowell]

I just ran the "duplicate files" part of Easycleaner...which took 3 hrs :)

Files are in pairs.....do I have to go through and delete one of each pair...which is going to take a long time...

.....or is the whole list of files to be deleted?
(I know to keep them in the recycle bin a while)

thanks... Jim

[Kubie]

Be careful here. If you delete all, it could cause a big problem.
I have a problem where Easycleaner deletes the files period even though I have the "delete to recycle bin" box checked.
Carl

[jlowell]

so do you delete each pair ????

Or one of each pair????

[Kubie]

Sorry for not giving you a straight answer. I haven't touched them. Since Easycleaner gives you options to compare files by name, date, etc, you might want to delete the earlier dated ones to the recycle bin and see what happens. That's why I haven't touched mine because the files just get deleted period.
Carl

[nightfishing]

I wouldn't delete any duplicate unless...

(1) you were drastically low on HD space or

(2) if a particular program is having problems w/a certain version of a .dll.

There are several reasons that you may have duplicate files in seperate directories and the most common is that different programs install them into different places.

These progs expect to find the duplicate in the place they installed it.

With some progs you can edit the registry and point the prog to the right location, in some the prog will be able to find the file if it is duplicated somewhere else and in many the progs will just stop operating.

There isn't any harm, in most cases to having these dupes on your HD, especially with the extremely low cost of HD space.

The only use I find for duplicate file checkers, is if I am having conflicts w/ a particular version of a file and a prog that would rather have an older/newer version. As far as maintenance, it is w/o any real benefit and can cause big headaches.

To keep your system clean, concentrate on temp files (of all kinds) and useless garbage that progs leave behind.

The single BEST way to LEARN what files are created by YOUR apps and are not necessary to keep is by using a prog like Uninstall Manager.

It takes a snapshot of your HD and then whenever you run it, it will show you what files have been added. You can then use that info to build a list of what TYPES of files certain progs create, WHERE they create them and IF and WHEN you can safely delete them.

You can then use a more configurable "cleaner app" to automatically clean out the files/directories that you have determined are junk. I use System mechanic; Easy cleaner will not let you add file types or directories to the default lists.

For a less involved approach, just use Easy Cleaner to delete the file types it has listed as default and keep tabs on your temp internet files and the like.

[jlowell]

OK...thanks guys. Leaving them alone sounds like the best plan..... :)

[jmatt]

http://members.cnx.net/reboot
http://206.161.202.65/forum/showthread.php?threadid=8547

99% of the duplicates it finds are in two folders.
c:\windows\sysbckup and c:\windows\options\cabs
You can delete everything from sysbckup except the 5 files with a
.cab extention (they're your registry backups for scanreg) and a
couple of others that it won't let you.
If you've got the windows CD, delete the whole options\cabs folder
completely.

[glc]

jmatt: if you delete the cabs folder, you will need the CD to install any hardware or change configurations. I *always* put the cabs on the hard drive unless I am really tight on space. Too much cleaning can become an inconvenience. Same with sysbckup - it can come in handy. Yes - you *can* safely remove them - but why? If your hard drive is *that* full - you have a problem anyway.