CNET Editors' review
Empty directory folders are annoying, but not often a cause for great concern. Still, they build up over time, and Remove Empty Directories is a smart and fast solution. The tiny program greets you with a mostly blank pane and an icon key to understanding your results. There's a dialog box at the top to specify a particular folder or drive to search, although by default it checks your C drive.
At the bottom is a Scan button. System resources and drive capacity aside, it takes a while to scan an entire drive. When finished, it coughs up a folder tree marked by the key: red folders will be removed, gray ones won't be touched, and blue ones have been protected, a feature accessible from the context menu. Once you have your list ready to go, hit the Delete button at the bottom and watch the extinction scroll past. Folders that couldn't be deleted might contain hidden files or be connected to a program that relies on them. The Settings tab provides both basic and advanced options, including Windows Explorer integration, a blacklist, customizable protocol, and setting the max depth for folder parsing.
This app is clearly aimed at those who like knowing exactly what's in their folder tree, or those who hate programs that leave behind empty folders as territorial markings of their presence. It functions well, and makes a useful if esoteric system utility.
Publisher's Description
From JonasJohn.de:
RED searches and deletes empty directories recursively below a given start folder and shows the result in a well arranged tree. Further you can create some custom rules for keeping and deleting folders. Empty files in directories can also be ignored. Just try RED to see the other features - no registry keys or system files will be touched.
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All versions:
3.1 starsout of 65 votes
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Current version:
2.9 starsout of 13 votes
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My rating:
Write review
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"Just the app I needed"
Version: Remove Empty Directories 2.2
Pros
Does the job. Quick to install, ease of use.
For those who complain about the time to remove tons of empty folder, think about the time it would take for you to remove them manually.
Other apps just move them to a hidden directory, so you won't really free any space.Cons
No cons at all.
Summary
Does the job it's named for.
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"Don't use this product if you value your sanity"
Version: Remove Empty Directories 2.2
Pros
Quick and easy to install
Scans your computer (for folders to delete) fast enoughCons
Software isn't quite clear what exactly it will delete
Makes your system slow as heck (CPU 100%)Summary
My experience;
I wanted a simple program to delete any empty folders from my hard drive to tidy it up a bit. I found this one and the reviews were a little off-putting, but I took the risk anyhow (wish I hadn't) and downloaded the software.
Installed very quickly and program popped up without any loading time. Great. I made it do a scan of my hard drive and it completed that in no time. Great. Now, I wasn't sure whether it was safe enough to delete empty folders in my Windows directly (better safe than never, right?), so I right-clicked it to "Protect" it and the program placed a little Lock icon beside the folder. I assumed this meant that any empty folders within the Windows directory would remained untouched.
However, I was wrong and once I let the software do it's business, I discovered that it deleted all the empty folders within Windows directory. This may or may not be safe to do so, but either way it angered me.
Now, as soon as I closed the program, my computer started freezing up. CPU 100%. I checked my processes and there was nothing out of the ordinary. It could only have been Remove Empty Directories. Luckily, all the deleted folders get placed in the Recycle Bin so I was able to restore them all. However, because my CPU was at it's limit, it took a good 20 minutes to restore a measly 19MB of folders (and empty files might I add).
Low and behold, as soon as these folders and files were restored, my computer ceased it's freezing and CPU back down to 1-10%. Needless to say, I removed the software as soon as I was able and came on here to review this piece of junk!
STAY AWAY! -
"Doesn't do anything"
Version: Remove Empty Directories 2.2
Pros
Gives you hopes
Cons
Didn't find the empty folders in my desired media folder.
Summary
Looking elsewhere.
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"Worked as advertised"
Version: Remove Empty Directories 2.2
Pros
Great search and listing features. Gave you a clear path of what files were going to be deleted and the option to remove or leave it as is.Quick file deletion and accurate. Set up dummy "empty" directories and it found them all.
Cons
Larger display window for deep trees or buried folders, the ability to maximize the program or display window in tabs
Summary
Excellent product I have it in my arsenal and its a keeper
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"Didn't work, and froze up my system."
Version: Remove Empty Directories 2.2
Pros
There were no pros
Cons
I ran it once to tidy my itunes directories.,
It didn't get all the empty folders, and my windows7 laptop immediately became buggy. Revo Uninstaller got rid of it nicely.Summary
I do not recommend this software. If you only have a couple-hundred directories to delete, just take an hour and do it the safe, plodding way.
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"It d the job as i expected"
Version: Remove Empty Directories 2.2
Pros
Cleans unnecessary empty files
Cons
doesn't tell you if files have information you have to look up those files yourself to make sure you don't delete the wrong ones,i almost did myself.
Summary
I'll keep using it,it is a good tool to have.
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"went right to the problems"
Version: Remove Empty Directories 2.2
Pros
easy set and use
Cons
did not delete all empty directories
Summary
sofar good
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"CAUTION, deleted mp3 containing directories"
Version: Remove Empty Directories 2.2
Pros
I love the idea of this and it didn't crash me.
Cons
had to undelete files after using this
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"Slow on large numbers of folders"
Version: Remove Empty Directories 2.2
Pros
Does what it claims
Cons
very slow.
Summary
I had it scan a folder containing 48000 empty folders. It scanned the folders quickly enough, but the delete process put the CPU utilisation up to 100% and it was taking around 5 seconds per folder to perform the delete. Obviously that was going to take an excessive amount of time so I am looking for something else to do the job.
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"Works some of the time"
Version: Remove Empty Directories 2.2
Pros
Deletes some empty directories
Cons
Dosen't delete all empty directories
Summary
Perhaps there is a limit to the number if folders it will search, but I couldn't find it listed.
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