Appreadwritecounter 1.32

Windows 7, 8.1 or 10

What you need:

Does your hard drive constantly click and whirr (known as ‘thrashing’)? Does Windows slow down even though Task Manager indicates your processor isn’t under much stress? The problem could be due to a particular program reading and writing an unusually high amount of data on your hard drive. Appreadwritecounter from Nirsoft (use the download links near the bottom of the page at the URL above) monitors how hard each program is working your hard drive, letting you quickly identify resource hogs. The tool records this data only while it’s open, but this version lets you load it as soon as you boot Windows – select Put Icon On Tray and Start As Hidden (see screenshot) in the Options menu to do this.

It’s interface could do with a makeover (the huge array of buttons can be confusing for newcomers), but our favourite duplicate file finder is Alldup ( www.snipca.com/37732 – click the ‘Server #1’ link in the Download section). Before using any duplicate file finder, we recommend creating a complete backup of all your files, preferably on an external hard drive.

Once you’ve done this, load Alldup, then click the Source Folders button (top left) and tick the folders you want it to search for duplicates. The ‘Comparison Method’ section lets you choose how to search for duplicates (for example, only comparing files in the same folder or across all sub-folders).

Next, click the Search Method button (to the right of Search Folders) and, in the top-left box, select which type of duplicate files you want to look for. Be wary of selecting ‘Find duplicate files on the basis of their properties’ – if two files happen to have the same name, they may get marked as duplicates. To avoid this, tick the ‘File content’ box (see screenshot), which compares files based on their hashes. Each file generates a unique hash (a long string of characters based on its contents), so it’s a reliable way to detect duplicates. This method also finds duplicates that have different file names (the file name isn’t used when generating a hash).

When you’re ready, click ‘Start Search’ (top left). Once complete, a new window will open, showing all possible duplicates. Expand each file in the left-hand pane, then select the duplicates you want to remove (use the preview pane on the right to check they are indeed duplicates). Finally, click the File Manager button (icon of a file with an ‘X’, top left), then in the ‘What action is to be performed?’ section choose whether to delete the selected files, send them to your recycle bin or move them to a different folder.

www.snipca.com/37734

Do you need our advice on what software to use? Just email us at letters@computeractive.co.uk