Duplicate File Hunter for Windows

There's no point in wasting valuable hard-drive space by keeping it cluttered with duplicate files. Duplicates happen to just about everybody at some point, whether they're the result of accidental multiple downloads, the byproduct of importing and renaming images, or some other mundane activity. Duplicate File Hunter is an easy-to-use tool that can help you locate, compare, and delete duplicate files. We've reviewed a lot of programs of this type, and Duplicate File Hunter is definitely one of the most straightforward, though not necessarily the most sophisticated.

Its fuzzy search mode enhances the app's ability to find duplicates quickly and accurately, especially with large files. You can also sort duplicates by various criteria, which simplifies the process of organizing and reviewing them. The app includes a marking mechanism that lets you easily select duplicates for deletion, speeding up the cleanup. Additionally, you can preview files directly in the search results, a handy feature for verifying content before you decide to delete anything.

Using Duplicate File Hunter is straightforward. You select the folder you want to check, specify the file type, and click "search." The search process is fast and depends on the size and type of the files you are looking into. Once it finds duplicates, it displays them along with their locations on your computer. You can then delete or move them with just a few clicks. This is especially useful for those who need regular system cleanups but find manual cleaning too tedious.

Although Duplicate File Hunter scans slower than some alternatives, it performs a comprehensive search. It supports a variety of file formats, including JPEG, MP3, and AVI, ensuring that it can scan a wide range of file types.

Duplicate File Hunter's interface is all business. There are buttons across the top allowing you to search for, select, delete, and move duplicate files. You can narrow down searches somewhat, specifying the file type and file size you want to search; there's also a masking tool that lets you search a certain file name or extension. We selected a directory to search that we knew to have plenty of duplicate files in it. Duplicate File Hunter searched this folder of 2,300 items in about 40 seconds and returned 140 duplicate results. We liked that duplicates are grouped together and displayed in a list view; each set of results is shown in alternating white or green, making it easy to see which files go together. For each file, Duplicate File Hunter displays the name, path, size, and CRC32. You can select all the duplicates and delete them en masse or deal with them individually; the program also lets you print a list of duplicates. The built-in Help file is brief, but it offers an adequate overview of the program's use. Overall, we think that Duplicate File Hunter is a useful, no-frills choice for finding and deleting duplicates, and we recommend it.

Duplicate File Hunter installs and uninstalls without issues.

• This version may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.