Getting  Along With Your Computer Column Archive

Find Duplicate Photos

By Cate Eales
Appeared April 24, 2008 on castanet.net

This week, a little more on managing digital photos; XP SP3 is almost here --- they really mean it this time; one less annoyance in Vista, and what's not to like about that?


Find duplicate photos
Last week's column about managing digital photos really got people's attention. Several readers and clients wanted to know if there was an easy way to find and eliminate duplicate photos.

There are lots of ways to do this, and some are easier than others. I know of two free programs that are good at finding duplicates. Dup Detector is specifically for the purpose of finding and allowing you to delete photos. It is thorough, and works happily in the background while you do something else. If you take the time to look through the help file, it is reasonably easy to use. If you don't, the interface is just plain confusing. Dup Detector will work on anything from Windows 95 to XP. Sorry, no Vista. Once you figure it out, Dup Detector works great. You can read more about it and grab it here.

Another tool is Duplicate Cleaner, available here. Also free, It found everything Dup Detector did on my hard drive, and took less time. Duplicate Cleaner can also find duplicates of other kinds of files, not just photos. I had a go at my mp3's and it found a ton of duplicates there, too. I thought the interface was more helpful than Dup Detector, but either tool is worth a look.

Whatever method you use to find and eliminate your duplicate files, please be careful that they are, in fact, duplicates and that you kill off the correct one. If you're not sure what you're doing, get some help before you proceed.


XP SP3 is almost here
Microsoft announced that Service Pack 3 for Windows XP will be available to the public on April 29. It will be part of Windows Update by early June.

By all accounts, XP3 is not heavy on enhancements. Instead it is described as being chiefly a roll up of all the patches and security updates that have come before. There are apparently no major improvements from SP2 which was released three years ago.

Nonetheless, it's a big download! And you can expect it to take some time to install. Check out the slide show here to see what you can expect. For more information about what is and is not included, see Paul Thurrott's excellent article here


Vista's "Blocked Programs" message annoys
Faithful reader Gord wrote in to ask how to turn off that annoying "reminder in Vista telling me that I have blocked programs in my start up, after all I did it on purpose so I don't need to be reminded!!"

Here are the steps:

That should do it. (Thanks and a tip of the hat to The How-To Geek.)


Thank you everyone who emailed with questions, comments, and words of encouragement. You can reach me at cate@rlis.com if you have anything to ask or tell about your computer. Don't forget, you can browse the column archives at any time. Point your browser here to go there.  If you'd like to subscribe to this column by email, please visit this link.  It's easy, and free. If you'd prefer the RSS Feed, click here.

Links
Managing Digital Photos: http://rlis.com/columns/column142.htm
Dup Detector http://www.keronsoft.com/dupdetector.html
Duplicate Cleaner http://www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/dupe.html.
PC Magazine XP SP3 slideshow http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/0,1206,l=226698&s=1489&a=226697,00.asp
Windows XP SP3 FAQ http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/xp_sp3.asp
Stop the Annoying "Windows Has Blocked Some Startup Programs" Balloon http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/stop-the-annoying-windows-has-blocked-some-startup-programs-balloon/
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives http://rlis.com/column.htm
Get Cate's column by email http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=20618
RSS Feed: http://rlis.com/rlis.xml

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Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric, and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions, helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management. Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit the Real Life Internet Solutions website at www.rlis.com.

© Cate Eales 2008 – All Rights Reserved
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