Ask Me Help Desk - How Do I Delete Duplicate Files?

(First, I am a TRUE beginner)
How can I be sure a file is duplicate, then delete it? I believe there are numerous duplicate files which are taking up a huge amt. of space. I have an old CPU (only has Pent.ll) but runs good enough for what I want to do. I am cleaning out this thing; did all Curlyben's suggestions, now works great. Just want to get the "crumbs" off.

All I have on here is AOL 9.0 , XP PRO, and DISK ONE of MS Office 2000 (Ha! Like I need XP PRO! I could hurt myself with all that!) Got some other stuff, like Adobe, Acrobat, Quicktime, the AVG-FREE anti virus app. (from Curlyben's WONDERFUL suggestion/link) and Ewido-FREE anti spyware. (You PC geniuses-please note-we beginners don't always realize there are FREE Apps. To download, I spent mucho dollars on things I could have found for free. Dang!)
Still, on the sys. Info, shows 90% load.

Not quite 100% sure if I understand your question, but it depends on where all your space is being taken up. If you are talking about e mail, delete e mails that are just sitting in there, and then delete what you don't want in your sent box. Then delete what is in your delete box.

You may have too many programs installed on your computer in which you don't want to use and could be taking up all your memory space. In that case, figure out what you don't want-then click on your start button/Control panel/Add and Remove (Programs)-then choose what programs you want to be uninstalled and remove them.

Yo'u're running Win XP on a Pentium II?? I would not run it on anything less than a P4 equivalent.

As for dup files, you may have dups, but only you can determine whehter a file with the same name is a dup or not.

There's a ton pf programs on the net that will help with this.
I've used noclone and found it to be excellent, and best of all it's free.
There's lots of other to choose from right Here

As Scott mentioned XP on a PII isn't really a good idea. You would be a lot better off running Windows 98 SE.

Also you mentioned that you have a lot of installed apps like adobe, etc.
You can use CCleaner (as mentioned in previous thread) to turn off any that you don't need to load on start up.
If you are unsure, then feel free to start a new thread with a list of what you have and we'll advise you accordingly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Depressed in MO

not quite 100% sure if I understand your question, but it depends on where all your space is being taken up. If you are talking about e mail, delete e mails that are just sitting in there, and then delete what you don't want in your sent box. Then delete what is in your delete box.

You may have too many programs installed on your computer in which you don't want to use and could be taking up all your memory space. In that case, figure out what you don't want-then click on your start button/Control panel/Add and Remove (Programs)-then choose what programs you want to be uninstalled and remove them.

Thanks; I have performed the ADD/Remove and I'm down to the bare minimums. One line shows AOL ADD/Remove, then the "Change/Remove"... then it reads "chose which version to remove." When I click that and go through all the steps (close all windows, exit AOL, then uninstall) it only displays one version of AOL; takes up 68.MB worth of space. I feel that there must be another version there, or at least some remnants. Now, after doing all this cleaning, I'm getting a message that reads, "Low on Virtual Memory." Now what? Any suggestions? (I have been through this w/ AOL techs-they don't seem to understand my question... I'm really trying!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

Yo'u're running Win XP on a Pentium II??? I would not run it on anything less than a P4 equivalent.

As for dup files, you may have dups, but only you can determine whehter a file with the same name is a dup or not.

Thanks, Scott. I realize that I shouldn't run XP on this, but it was this or stay w/ WIN 95. (gift) Or so I thought at the time.

Ok I know you have done some of these steps before, but the whole thing is a good maintenance routine.
Step #4 deals with virtual memory.

Here's some simple steps for you to take.
1/ Remove temp files and other rubbish form your system, either with inbuilt Disc Clean up or CCleaner.
(Disc clean up; open my computer > right click your C: drive > properties > Disc clean up button on general tab. Let it run and select everything)
2/ Defrag; open my computer > right click your C: drive > properties > Tools tab > Defragament now button.
3/ Error checking; open my computer > right click your C: drive > properties > Tools tab > Top button > check now. Check BOTH boxes, OK the error message and reboot.
4/ Page file; Right click 'my computer' > properties > advanced tab > Performance settings button > advanced tab > Virtual memory (near the bottom). To make things easier for you select System managed size > click set > then OK's all the way out again. (I suggest 'system managed' as there is no consensus on min and max sizes to set)
5/ To make sure everything is running fine also run both anti virus and anti spyware apps (make sure that they are updated first ;)) (AVG is good and free AV)
(A couple of good removal tools are Spybot and Adaware)

ALso an on line virus and spyware scanner is Trend Housecall

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacqueli

it only displays one version of AOL; takes up 68.MB worth of space. I feel that there must be another version there, or at least some remnants. Now, after doing all this cleaning, I'm getting a message that reads, "Low on Virtual Memory." Now what? any suggestions?

Thanks, Scott. I realize that I shouldn't run XP on this, but it was this or stay w/ WIN 95. (gift) Or so I thought at the time.

My AOL folder is 65MB, so yours doesn't seem out of line, especially if you use it, (I don't very much).

As Curly said you would be much better off going to Win 98 SE. You should be able to find a version on EBAY. However, it will mean reformatting your drive to go down to Win 98.