I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.

https://gfretwell.com/ftp/garage.jpg

On 10/6/2023 11:19 AM, gfretwell@aol.com wrote:
> I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
> directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
> duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.
>
> https://gfretwell.com/ftp/garage.jpg
>

That's a well-ordered garage. I see no reason to panic :-)

I like your ladder on the ceiling. My father and I had a huge
ladder we used to store that way (basement ceiling). It took the
two of us to carry it and get it into place. It hung from some
heavy wire hangers, so part of the fun, was fitting one end of the ladder
into a U-shaped hanger, then getting the other end into its hanger.
I used to paint windows on the top of that ladder, about 2.5 storeys up.
It's a bastard of a job working up there, and trying to scrape and prep
a window you can barely reach. The air is thinner up there.

Seriously, if you have time for deduping a file tree, you have
too much time on your hands :-) Only "file system vandalism"
(purposeful spewing of files into a tree), needs a dedup/cleanup.
Casual use, the files will be just fine where they are. For
example, I regularly clean up "cache2" area, on softwares where
I haven't changed the cache to be RAM based instead.

So a keyword for your Google search, might be "dedup".

https://www.auslogics.com/en/software/duplicate-file-finder/

*******

This is an older program, written in a university. There are
Linux versions, kdirstat and qdirstat or so, which use the same
display method. This is how you identify "space hogs".

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/sequoiaview.html

(Original site)

https://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

You can right-click a tile, and select "Explore" to have File Explorer
display the item. For example, a file like C:\hiberfil.sys can be
rather large, and that should give you a big square to practice on.
Naturally, you won't be deleting C:\hiberfil.sys :-)

https://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/Graphics/ScreenSHSq1a.jpg

That's one of the problems with deduping and cleaning up, is the
danger of overdoing it, and erasing an only copy.

Paul

In message <8290iitfadngknc2igh30rfpj6ms3ap9hh@4ax.com> at Fri, 6 Oct
2023 11:19:13, gfretwell@aol.com writes
>I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
>directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
>duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.
>
>https://gfretwell.com/ftp/garage.jpg

Nice (-:! Actually, you _might_ be letting the side down - near bottom
left, I can see something that _might_ still be a car.

I don't think you'll find anything that does _all_ of the above in one
application - in fact I don't know anything that'll _sort_ folders by
size, rather than just _show_ them. For the latter, very little beats
WinDirStat (https://windirstat.net/ - there's a sample screenshot) for
detail in a well-presented manner, but it _is_ a little slow to run
(took just under 2 minutes to do both partitions on here). For a faster
and also rather interesting display of folder sizes, try Steffen
Gerlach's "scanner" http://steffengerlach.de/freeware/ - it's a sort of
hierarchical pie-chart (can also be added to the right-click menu).
Quite old, but nothing wrong with that (may be one of the reasons it
runs reasonably fast).

For finding duplicate files, it depends where you've put them, what sort
they are, and so on. Although it's far from its primary purpose, I find
Everything from voidtools often quite useful in that respect, especially
if you're not sure where the duplicates may be - especially as it can
sort by size or creation date as well as the default of filename. For a
more serious FindDuplicates, David Taylor's - again old - one of that
name: https://www.satsignal.eu/software/disk.html (he also has there a
usage piechart, but IMO its display is less intuitive than Steffen's).

For images specifically, ideally, you want something that knows about
images, and is able to compare assorted files: the best I've come
across, but which unfortunately the company seems to have disappeared,
is Duplicate Image Finder from Runningman software, which can compare
images in different file formats, resolutions, and if I remember
rotations and reflections - you set a percentage equality (can be 100%),
and it shows you them side-by side telling you where they are (and other
things about them such as size and format) and you choose which (or
neither) to delete. I think there are other such utilities about. (If
someone knows a freeware one that does that - allow different formats
and resolutions - please share! [W7 and older only, of course.])

[Probably something similar for audio and video files would be good too,
but harder to create. (Ditto document, e. g. Word, PDF, and so on.)]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"This situation absolutely requires a really futile and stoopid gesture be done
on somebody's part." "We're just the guys to do it." Eric "Otter" Stratton (Tim
Matheson) and John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi) - N. L's Animal House
(1978)

In message <ufp9j6$1jvls$1@dont-email.me> at Fri, 6 Oct 2023 11:37:10,
Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> writes
[]
>That's a well-ordered garage. I see no reason to panic :-)
[]
>I used to paint windows on the top of that ladder, about 2.5 storeys up.

I was wondering why a ladder would have windows. Then ...
[]
>Seriously, if you have time for deduping a file tree, you have
>too much time on your hands :-) Only "file system vandalism"
>(purposeful spewing of files into a tree), needs a dedup/cleanup.

Agreed. Though sometimes it seems MS is one of the worst for that.

>Casual use, the files will be just fine where they are. For
>example, I regularly clean up "cache2" area, on softwares where
>I haven't changed the cache to be RAM based instead.
>
>So a keyword for your Google search, might be "dedup".
>
>https://www.auslogics.com/en/software/duplicate-file-finder/
>

My, that doesn't half "phone home" a lot! But looks good.
>*******
>
>This is an older program, written in a university. There are
>Linux versions, kdirstat and qdirstat or so, which use the same
>display method. This is how you identify "space hogs".
>
>https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/sequoiaview.html
>
>(Original site)
>
>https://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

I think WinDirStat is derived from it.
[]
>That's one of the problems with deduping and cleaning up, is the
>danger of overdoing it, and erasing an only copy.

Especially when you don't know what they do.
>
> Paul
John
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

aibohphobia, n., The fear of palindromes.

On Fri, 6 Oct 2023 17:33:35 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

>In message <8290iitfadngknc2igh30rfpj6ms3ap9hh@4ax.com> at Fri, 6 Oct
>2023 11:19:13, gfretwell@aol.com writes
>>I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
>>directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
>>duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.

>I don't think you'll find anything that does _all_ of the above in one
>application - in fact I don't know anything that'll _sort_ folders by
>size, rather than just _show_ them.

Treesize Free, from https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free

>For the latter, very little beats WinDirStat (https://windirstat.net/

I honestly think that program is little more than eye candy. Other than that, I
found it to be completely useless.

>For finding duplicate files,

I use Duplicate Cleaner Free, from
https://www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/duplicatecleaner.html

In message <6t91iitfhu6la109i2m85gqtmtrvfr3puc@4ax.com> at Fri, 6 Oct
2023 19:42:40, Char Jackson <none@none.invalid> writes
[]
>Treesize Free, from https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free
>
>>For the latter, very little beats WinDirStat (https://windirstat.net/
>
>I honestly think that program is little more than eye candy. Other than that, I
>found it to be completely useless.

Despite your knocking WinDirStat (I include its predecessor that someone
mentioned - had a tribal name, I forget it), I endorse your
recommendation of Treesize. I did think of suggesting it. It has some
advantages over WinDirStat - certainly the detail is more visible. It
just (by its nature) can't show as many lines, certainly not a whole
disc. (Equally, WDS's display can't show as much _detail_.)
>
>>For finding duplicate files,
>
>I use Duplicate Cleaner Free, from
>https://www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/duplicatecleaner.html
>
Haven't tried that one; the one someone mentioned - the Auslogics one -
I've now tried, and (apart from the amount of phoning home it does,
which AVG has I hope now let me sit on) am quite impressed with.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"In the _car_-park? What are you doing there?" "Parking cars, what else does
one do in a car-park?" (First series, fit the fifth.)

On Sat, 7 Oct 2023 02:29:30 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

>In message <6t91iitfhu6la109i2m85gqtmtrvfr3puc@4ax.com> at Fri, 6 Oct
>2023 19:42:40, Char Jackson <none@none.invalid> writes
>[]
>>Treesize Free, from https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free
>>
>>>For the latter, very little beats WinDirStat (https://windirstat.net/
>>
>>I honestly think that program is little more than eye candy. Other than that, I
>>found it to be completely useless.
>
>Despite your knocking WinDirStat (I include its predecessor that someone
>mentioned - had a tribal name, I forget it), I endorse your
>recommendation of Treesize. I did think of suggesting it. It has some
>advantages over WinDirStat - certainly the detail is more visible. It
>just (by its nature) can't show as many lines, certainly not a whole
>disc. (Equally, WDS's display can't show as much _detail_.)

I'm not sure what you mean. I use Treesize Free to display a whole disk more
often than not. It's integrated into my right-click context menu, so it can be
started in any folder, but it can also be started in a disk's root folder and
thus show that entire disk.

>>>For finding duplicate files,
>>
>>I use Duplicate Cleaner Free, from
>>https://www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/duplicatecleaner.html
>>
>Haven't tried that one; the one someone mentioned - the Auslogics one -
>I've now tried, and (apart from the amount of phoning home it does,
>which AVG has I hope now let me sit on) am quite impressed with.

Duplicate Cleaner (the paid version) claims to be able to find duplicate photos,
including different formats, different aspect ratios, cropped, rotated,
close-enough, etc. It also claims to do the same with videos and music files. I
didn't suggest it for those tasks because those are paid features and you wanted
freeware. I only use it to find duplicate files, especially duplicate files that
have different names, and that part is free.

On Fri, 6 Oct 2023 17:33:35 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk>
wrote:

>In message <8290iitfadngknc2igh30rfpj6ms3ap9hh@4ax.com> at Fri, 6 Oct
>2023 11:19:13, gfretwell@aol.com writes
>>I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
>>directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
>>duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.
>>
>>https://gfretwell.com/ftp/garage.jpg
>
>Nice (-:! Actually, you _might_ be letting the side down - near bottom
>left, I can see something that _might_ still be a car.
>
Golf Cart
I'm surprised nobody found the Harley.
That is an old picture. I have new junk now but (hurricane) Ian helped
me decide to get rid of a lot of it. (4 feet of salt water)

>I don't think you'll find anything that does _all_ of the above in one
>application - in fact I don't know anything that'll _sort_ folders by
>size, rather than just _show_ them. For the latter, very little beats
>WinDirStat (https://windirstat.net/ - there's a sample screenshot) for
>detail in a well-presented manner, but it _is_ a little slow to run
>(took just under 2 minutes to do both partitions on here). For a faster
>and also rather interesting display of folder sizes, try Steffen
>Gerlach's "scanner" http://steffengerlach.de/freeware/ - it's a sort of
>hierarchical pie-chart (can also be added to the right-click menu).
>Quite old, but nothing wrong with that (may be one of the reasons it
>runs reasonably fast).
>
>For finding duplicate files, it depends where you've put them, what sort
>they are, and so on. Although it's far from its primary purpose, I find
>Everything from voidtools often quite useful in that respect, especially
>if you're not sure where the duplicates may be - especially as it can
>sort by size or creation date as well as the default of filename. For a
>more serious FindDuplicates, David Taylor's - again old - one of that
>name: https://www.satsignal.eu/software/disk.html (he also has there a
>usage piechart, but IMO its display is less intuitive than Steffen's).

Thanks, I will look into those. My problem is I have a disk with close
to 500g on it and I am not sure where the hogs are There are a bunch
of folders.

>For images specifically, ideally, you want something that knows about
>images, and is able to compare assorted files: the best I've come
>across, but which unfortunately the company seems to have disappeared,
>is Duplicate Image Finder from Runningman software, which can compare
>images in different file formats, resolutions, and if I remember
>rotations and reflections - you set a percentage equality (can be 100%),
>and it shows you them side-by side telling you where they are (and other
>things about them such as size and format) and you choose which (or
>neither) to delete. I think there are other such utilities about. (If
>someone knows a freeware one that does that - allow different formats
>and resolutions - please share! [W7 and older only, of course.])
>
>[Probably something similar for audio and video files would be good too,
>but harder to create. (Ditto document, e. g. Word, PDF, and so on.)]

Pictures are probably where most of the duplicate files are but this
is my legacy drive that started collecting junk in the DOS/W3.1 days
and I keep copying it to a bigger drive in a new system (about 10-12
machines). I know I have copies of copies of stuff out there.
Thanks guys. This will keep me busy for a while.

On Fri, 06 Oct 2023 11:19:13 -0400, gfretwell@aol.com wrote:

>I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
>directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
>duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.

My favorite is Directory Opus. It's not free, but I think it comes
with a free trial.

In message <1302iidjtsqs44bu33a2kp9nu0bt5rvsuh@4ax.com> at Sat, 7 Oct
2023 03:01:58, gfretwell@aol.com writes
>On Fri, 6 Oct 2023 17:33:35 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk>
>wrote:
[]
>>WinDirStat (https://windirstat.net/ - there's a sample screenshot) for
[]
>>Gerlach's "scanner" http://steffengerlach.de/freeware/ - it's a sort of
[]
>>more serious FindDuplicates, David Taylor's - again old - one of that
>>name: https://www.satsignal.eu/software/disk.html (he also has there a
>>usage piechart, but IMO its display is less intuitive than Steffen's).
>
>Thanks, I will look into those. My problem is I have a disk with close
>to 500g on it and I am not sure where the hogs are There are a bunch
>of folders.
[]
Oh, for finding where the hogs are, WinDirStat, TreeSize, or Scanner
will all do the job - I think of the three, _just_ for finding where the
hogs are, I'd use scanner (I find its interface lets me climb up and
down - or in and out, if you prefer - quite nicely). For finding whether
the hogs are hogs because of lots of duplicates, I used to say David
Taylor's one (and that's probably still worth a look), but I was quite
impressed with the Auslogics one someone suggested (took just under 2
minutes first time on here; I think it went quicker when there were
fewer duplicates, i. e. when I tried it again after deleting some). If
reducing hoggery is your main wish, David Taylor's one compares the
biggest files first (and I think can be paused or stopped at any point).

You say pictures are probably where most of the duplicates are; you of
course may be right (you know your own system), but assuming you've also
got a fair number of video files, the picture duplicates probably aren't
the major hog. (Though it's satisfying to delete them anyway.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

If it jams - force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.

On 07/10/2023 15:51:07, Ken Blake wrote:
> On Fri, 06 Oct 2023 11:19:13 -0400, gfretwell@aol.com wrote:
>
>> I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
>> directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
>> duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.
>
>
> My favorite is Directory Opus. It's not free, but I think it comes
> with a free trial.

+1
The first program I always install on every computer I have owned.
Just using it day in and day out you subconsciously keep everything on
all drives organised without a second thought. Unlike File Explorer,
which if I do have to use on someone else's computer I really struggle
with because it is usually never set up correctly, e.g, file extensions
turned off. How on earth do people manage files with the same name but
a different extension? As one person once said, "I keep clicking on
them until it looks like the right one"

--
mick

On Sat, 7 Oct 2023 16:54:21 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk>
wrote:

>In message <1302iidjtsqs44bu33a2kp9nu0bt5rvsuh@4ax.com> at Sat, 7 Oct
>2023 03:01:58, gfretwell@aol.com writes
>>On Fri, 6 Oct 2023 17:33:35 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk>
>>wrote:
>[]
>>>WinDirStat (https://windirstat.net/ - there's a sample screenshot) for
>[]
>>>Gerlach's "scanner" http://steffengerlach.de/freeware/ - it's a sort of
>[]
>>>more serious FindDuplicates, David Taylor's - again old - one of that
>>>name: https://www.satsignal.eu/software/disk.html (he also has there a
>>>usage piechart, but IMO its display is less intuitive than Steffen's).
>>
>>Thanks, I will look into those. My problem is I have a disk with close
>>to 500g on it and I am not sure where the hogs are There are a bunch
>>of folders.
>[]
>Oh, for finding where the hogs are, WinDirStat, TreeSize, or Scanner
>will all do the job - I think of the three, _just_ for finding where the
>hogs are, I'd use scanner (I find its interface lets me climb up and
>down - or in and out, if you prefer - quite nicely). For finding whether
>the hogs are hogs because of lots of duplicates, I used to say David
>Taylor's one (and that's probably still worth a look), but I was quite
>impressed with the Auslogics one someone suggested (took just under 2
>minutes first time on here; I think it went quicker when there were
>fewer duplicates, i. e. when I tried it again after deleting some). If
>reducing hoggery is your main wish, David Taylor's one compares the
>biggest files first (and I think can be paused or stopped at any point).
>
>You say pictures are probably where most of the duplicates are; you of
>course may be right (you know your own system), but assuming you've also
>got a fair number of video files, the picture duplicates probably aren't
>the major hog. (Though it's satisfying to delete them anyway.)

Scanner seems to do what I need in analyzing my drives. It turns out
pictures are the biggest hog. I am not sure I am going to address that
right now (30 gig). The problem is I have all the raw, right off the
camera pictures with date file names, then edited copies scattered
around. I like keeping the raw pictures if they are usable since I may
want to go back and recover something I cropped out, not thinking I
cared. Sometimes adding context is a good thing.
Thanks again everyone. You saved me a lot of time weeding through the
chaff online.

"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote in news:4dKa3dXfbDIlFw4T@
255soft.uk:

> In message <8290iitfadngknc2igh30rfpj6ms3ap9hh@4ax.com> at Fri, 6 Oct
> 2023 11:19:13, gfretwell@aol.com writes
>>I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
>>directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
>>duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.
>>
>>https://gfretwell.com/ftp/garage.jpg
>
> Nice (-:! Actually, you _might_ be letting the side down - near bottom
> left, I can see something that _might_ still be a car.
>
> I don't think you'll find anything that does _all_ of the above in one
> application - in fact I don't know anything that'll _sort_ folders by
> size, rather than just _show_ them. For the latter, very little beats
> WinDirStat (https://windirstat.net/ - there's a sample screenshot) for
> detail in a well-presented manner, but it _is_ a little slow to run
> (took just under 2 minutes to do both partitions on here). For a faster
> and also rather interesting display of folder sizes, try Steffen
> Gerlach's "scanner" http://steffengerlach.de/freeware/ - it's a sort of
> hierarchical pie-chart (can also be added to the right-click menu).
> Quite old, but nothing wrong with that (may be one of the reasons it
> runs reasonably fast).
>
> For finding duplicate files, it depends where you've put them, what sort
> they are, and so on. Although it's far from its primary purpose, I find
> Everything from voidtools often quite useful in that respect, especially
> if you're not sure where the duplicates may be - especially as it can
> sort by size or creation date as well as the default of filename. For a
> more serious FindDuplicates, David Taylor's - again old - one of that
> name: https://www.satsignal.eu/software/disk.html (he also has there a
> usage piechart, but IMO its display is less intuitive than Steffen's).
>
> For images specifically, ideally, you want something that knows about
> images, and is able to compare assorted files: the best I've come
> across, but which unfortunately the company seems to have disappeared,
> is Duplicate Image Finder from Runningman software, which can compare
> images in different file formats, resolutions, and if I remember
> rotations and reflections - you set a percentage equality (can be 100%),
> and it shows you them side-by side telling you where they are (and other
> things about them such as size and format) and you choose which (or
> neither) to delete. I think there are other such utilities about. (If
> someone knows a freeware one that does that - allow different formats
> and resolutions - please share! [W7 and older only, of course.])

I've used this one for years. No adware. Fast. Free. I've used it on
Windows 7, 10, and 11.
For picture files, I like that when you hover over the file name, you can
see a preview.

http://www.malich.org/duplicate_searcher

>
> [Probably something similar for audio and video files would be good too,
> but harder to create. (Ditto document, e. g. Word, PDF, and so on.)]

On Fri, 06 Oct 2023 11:19:13 -0400, gfretwell@aol.com wrote:

> I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
> directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
> duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.
>
> https://gfretwell.com/ftp/garage.jpg

FreeCommander can do that (and more).

<https://freecommander.com/en/summary/>

--
s|b

In message <XnsB096C1AFC3749Borisinvalidinvalid@135.181.20.170> at Sun,
8 Oct 2023 02:02:24, Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> writes
>"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote in news:4dKa3dXfbDIlFw4T@
>255soft.uk:
[]
>> For images specifically, ideally, you want something that knows about
>> images, and is able to compare assorted files: the best I've come
>> across, but which unfortunately the company seems to have disappeared,
>> is Duplicate Image Finder from Runningman software, which can compare
>> images in different file formats, resolutions, and if I remember
>> rotations and reflections - you set a percentage equality (can be 100%),
>> and it shows you them side-by side telling you where they are (and other
>> things about them such as size and format) and you choose which (or
>> neither) to delete. I think there are other such utilities about. (If
>> someone knows a freeware one that does that - allow different formats
>> and resolutions - please share! [W7 and older only, of course.])
>
>I've used this one for years. No adware. Fast. Free. I've used it on
>Windows 7, 10, and 11.
>For picture files, I like that when you hover over the file name, you can
>see a preview.
>
>http://www.malich.org/duplicate_searcher
[]
Thanks for the tip; I like that one for several reasons:
1. It definitely does byte-by-byte comparison. (OK, that may make it
take longer, but it only took 2¾ minutes here - only few seconds after
deleting some.)
2. It can make hard links - so in effect deleting.
3. "Identify audio, video and JPG files that contain identical media
content but have different metadata information." This last one has
found lots for me, mostly in my genealogy area. I use the comment field
in JPG files (I, C in IrfanView; other image utilities that can access
the comment field are available), and I've obviously downloaded the same
image (e. g. a census page) but saved it with different comments. (Or
sometimes, the hardware or software that does the original scan adds a
line in the comment field, and if got from different sources who used
different hardware/software, that line may be different.)

It _doesn't_ do a compare-images with different
formats/resolutions/rotations, but as a DFF, it looks very good.

For those interested/wary: it needs .net, at least 4.7.1. If you run it
and you haven't got, it offers to get, and if you say yes, it takes you
to a (Microsoft) page that (I think) offers the latest version of 4 -
4.8.1 I think it was - and lets you download its installer; when you try
to run that, it tells you (or did me) that that's not compatible with
your system. Fortunately the Microsoft page has "older versions" at the
bottom, including 4.7.2. The DFF page also has links to .net versions 6
and 7 (and says it runs faster with 7).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

I'm too lazy to have a bigger ego. - James May, RT 2016/1/23-29

On Fri, 06 Oct 2023 11:19:13 -0400, gfretwell@aol.com wrote:

>I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
>directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
>duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.
>
>https://gfretwell.com/ftp/garage.jpg

If you seriously cozy up with ZTREE you will find that it does things you never thought of and is
capable of doing most all those things in a batch mode. Being an XTREE user from 30 years ago i have
even cloned a harddrive with XTREE a long time ago (~25 years) and supposedly ZTREE could do the same
thing. When I got Win 7 over a decade ago, one of the first applications I got was ZTREE for 64 bit.
However, i don't know of a way to use it to detect duplicates -- or never looked....

(Whether or not they have fixed this I don't know, but it's major drawback is not using large data
packets on COPY. That probably would not come into play with you cleaning up a drive.)

In message <dc31pilnm8uhv6h32u608kmng1ojpdot3p@4ax.com> at Sat, 30 Dec
2023 16:52:54, jackpatton@astraweb.com writes
>On Fri, 06 Oct 2023 11:19:13 -0400, gfretwell@aol.com wrote:

(That was a while ago!)
>
>>I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
>>directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
>>duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.
>>
>>https://gfretwell.com/ftp/garage.jpg
>
>If you seriously cozy up with ZTREE you will find that it does things
[]
>However, i don't know of a way to use it to detect duplicates -- or
>never looked....

I'm a fan of Xtree (which still works under 7 32 bit! [Though has a
tendency to rail a core, even when apparently not doing anything]).
Though I don't know if it can find duplicates.

Two duplicate finders I like are:
David Taylor's FindDup: https://www.satsignal.eu/software/disk.html
the AusLogics one:
https://www.auslogics.com/en/software/duplicate-file-finder/

For images only, ideally you want one that compares images of different
sizes, formats, and orientations, and lets you set a match threshold; I
liked Duplicate Image Finder (unfortunate name as it's impossible to
search for!) from Runningman Software, but unfortunately they've
disappeared. I don't know if there are similar ones for sound and video
files.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The early worm gets the bird.

J. P. Gilliver wrote on 31/12/23 10:07 am:
> In message <dc31pilnm8uhv6h32u608kmng1ojpdot3p@4ax.com> at Sat, 30 Dec
> 2023 16:52:54, jackpatton@astraweb.com writes
>> On Fri, 06 Oct 2023 11:19:13 -0400, gfretwell@aol.com wrote:
>
> (That was a while ago!)
>>
>>> I am looking for something better than windows explorer for analyzing
>>> directories/folders. Something that will sort folders by size, find
>>> duplicate files and help me clean up a PC that looks like my garage.
>>>
>>> https://gfretwell.com/ftp/garage.jpg
>>
>> If you seriously cozy up with ZTREE you will find that it does things
> []
>> However, i don't know of a way to use it to detect duplicates -- or
>> never looked....
>
> I'm a fan of Xtree (which still works under 7 32 bit! [Though has a
> tendency to rail a core, even when apparently not doing anything]).
> Though I don't know if it can find duplicates.

I loved XTree and XTreeGold .... Was that mid-late-80's?? Loved it!
--
Daniel

In message <umrlob$1nhbb$1@dont-email.me> at Sun, 31 Dec 2023 23:10:51,
Daniel65 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> writes
>J. P. Gilliver wrote on 31/12/23 10:07 am:
[]
>> I'm a fan of Xtree (which still works under 7 32 bit! [Though has a
>>tendency to rail a core, even when apparently not doing anything]).
>>Though I don't know if it can find duplicates.
>
>I loved XTree and XTreeGold .... Was that mid-late-80's?? Loved it!

(It's Gold I have.) Sounds about right. It was such a good precursor -
in DOS days - that, whenever you saw a photo of a scene where there was
a PC screen incidentally in the picture, it was very often the blue of
Xtree rather than the black of a DOS screen!
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

.... the pleasure of the mind is an amazing thing. My life has been driven by
the satisfaction of curiosity. - Jeremy Paxman (being interviewed by Anne
Widdecombe), Radio Times, 2-8 July 2011.

On Sun, 31 Dec 2023 12:26:54 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver"
<G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

>In message <umrlob$1nhbb$1@dont-email.me> at Sun, 31 Dec 2023 23:10:51,
>Daniel65 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> writes
>>J. P. Gilliver wrote on 31/12/23 10:07 am:
>[]
>>> I'm a fan of Xtree (which still works under 7 32 bit! [Though has a
>>>tendency to rail a core, even when apparently not doing anything]).
>>>Though I don't know if it can find duplicates.
>>
>>I loved XTree and XTreeGold .... Was that mid-late-80's?? Loved it!
>
>(It's Gold I have.) Sounds about right. It was such a good precursor -
>in DOS days - that, whenever you saw a photo of a scene where there was
>a PC screen incidentally in the picture, it was very often the blue of
>Xtree rather than the black of a DOS screen!

I will check out Ztree.
BTW my DOS screens were always a different color. I leaned toward
yellow text on blue.

In message <fs13pith6e3agkfd19je6ndec76eaa6cgi@4ax.com> at Sun, 31 Dec
2023 10:28:23, gfretwell@aol.com writes
>On Sun, 31 Dec 2023 12:26:54 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver"
><G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
[]
>>(It's Gold I have.) Sounds about right. It was such a good precursor -
>>in DOS days - that, whenever you saw a photo of a scene where there was
>>a PC screen incidentally in the picture, it was very often the blue of
>>Xtree rather than the black of a DOS screen!
>
>I will check out Ztree.
>BTW my DOS screens were always a different color. I leaned toward
>yellow text on blue.
>
Xtree had yellow or white (depending on what you were doing) on blue.
(Though I think you could choose all the colours for yourself if you
wanted.) IIRR the DOS version of WordPerfect (which was in most people's
opinion better than the pre-Windows Microsoft equivalent) also used
white on blue. (I can't remember what the pre-windows Microsoft word
processor was even called, or even if they had one.)

I remember someone posting a hack - well, telling you how - to change
the colours of the BSOD; not that it was something one wanted to see
anyway, but at least you could choose the colours! I think that was back
in the '95/8/Me days.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Can a blue man sing the whites?

J. P. Gilliver wrote on 1/1/24 6:21 am:
> In message <fs13pith6e3agkfd19je6ndec76eaa6cgi@4ax.com> at Sun, 31
> Dec 2023 10:28:23, gfretwell@aol.com writes
>> On Sun, 31 Dec 2023 12:26:54 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver"
>> <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
> []
>>> (It's Gold I have.) Sounds about right. It was such a good
>>> precursor - in DOS days - that, whenever you saw a photo of a
>>> scene where there was a PC screen incidentally in the picture, it
>>> was very often the blue of Xtree rather than the black of a DOS
>>> screen!
>>
>> I will check out Ztree. BTW my DOS screens were always a different
>> color. I leaned toward yellow text on blue.
>>
> Xtree had yellow or white (depending on what you were doing) on blue.
> (Though I think you could choose all the colours for yourself if you
> wanted.) IIRR the DOS version of WordPerfect (which was in most
> people's opinion better than the pre-Windows Microsoft equivalent)
> also used white on blue. (I can't remember what the pre-windows
> Microsoft word processor was even called, or even if they had one.)

Wasn't MS Word stand-alone i.e. could be run on any DOS directly?? Or
was that issued on/with MS-DOS

--
Daniel

In message <umu1cs$25uj0$1@dont-email.me> at Mon, 1 Jan 2024 20:41:49,
Daniel65 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> writes
>J. P. Gilliver wrote on 1/1/24 6:21 am:
[]
>> Xtree had yellow or white (depending on what you were doing) on blue.
>> (Though I think you could choose all the colours for yourself if you
>> wanted.) IIRR the DOS version of WordPerfect (which was in most
>> people's opinion better than the pre-Windows Microsoft equivalent)
>> also used white on blue. (I can't remember what the pre-windows
>> Microsoft word processor was even called, or even if they had one.)
>
>Wasn't MS Word stand-alone i.e. could be run on any DOS directly?? Or
>was that issued on/with MS-DOS
>
I'm pretty sure there was no wordprocessor included with DOS (unless you
count EDIT, which was basically a text editor, I think partly intended
for editing batch files, CONFIG.SYS, and the like, rather than actual
text). DOS, after all, came on a handful of floppies! (3, for one
version.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"If even one person" arguments allow the perfect to become the enemy of the
good, and thus they tend to cause more harm than good.
- Jimmy Akins quoted by Scott Adams, 2015-5-5

On Sun, 31 Dec 2023 19:21:52 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver"
<G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

>In message <fs13pith6e3agkfd19je6ndec76eaa6cgi@4ax.com> at Sun, 31 Dec
>2023 10:28:23, gfretwell@aol.com writes
>>On Sun, 31 Dec 2023 12:26:54 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver"
>><G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
>[]
>>>(It's Gold I have.) Sounds about right. It was such a good precursor -
>>>in DOS days - that, whenever you saw a photo of a scene where there was
>>>a PC screen incidentally in the picture, it was very often the blue of
>>>Xtree rather than the black of a DOS screen!
>>
>>I will check out Ztree.
>>BTW my DOS screens were always a different color. I leaned toward
>>yellow text on blue.
>>
>Xtree had yellow or white (depending on what you were doing) on blue.
>(Though I think you could choose all the colours for yourself if you
>wanted.) IIRR the DOS version of WordPerfect (which was in most people's
>opinion better than the pre-Windows Microsoft equivalent) also used
>white on blue. (I can't remember what the pre-windows Microsoft word
>processor was even called, or even if they had one.)
>
>I remember someone posting a hack - well, telling you how - to change
>the colours of the BSOD; not that it was something one wanted to see
>anyway, but at least you could choose the colours! I think that was back
>in the '95/8/Me days.

Prior to Windows I was using "Wordproof" in IBM internal product with
spell checking, grade level scoring and a number of other features.
Later I switched to "CE3", another IBM Internal programs that can do
text tricks Windows still can't do unless you create an XLS file and
use Excel.
This all runs in DOS.
IBM had so many DOS tools that I resisted Windows or OS2 until I was
forced into it by software that would only run under Windows.

On Mon, 1 Jan 2024 12:16:15 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk>
wrote:

>In message <umu1cs$25uj0$1@dont-email.me> at Mon, 1 Jan 2024 20:41:49,
>Daniel65 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> writes
>>J. P. Gilliver wrote on 1/1/24 6:21 am:
>[]
>>> Xtree had yellow or white (depending on what you were doing) on blue.
>>> (Though I think you could choose all the colours for yourself if you
>>> wanted.) IIRR the DOS version of WordPerfect (which was in most
>>> people's opinion better than the pre-Windows Microsoft equivalent)
>>> also used white on blue. (I can't remember what the pre-windows
>>> Microsoft word processor was even called, or even if they had one.)
>>
>>Wasn't MS Word stand-alone i.e. could be run on any DOS directly?? Or
>>was that issued on/with MS-DOS
>>
>I'm pretty sure there was no wordprocessor included with DOS (unless you
>count EDIT, which was basically a text editor, I think partly intended
>for editing batch files, CONFIG.SYS, and the like, rather than actual
>text). DOS, after all, came on a handful of floppies! (3, for one
>version.)

Edit didn't show up until around DOS 4.0, a miserable release. 5.0
fixed most of those bugs.
Before that the only editor inside DOS was EDLIN and that was
miserable to use if you were actually trying to write something.
OTOH DOS 1.0 shipped with the original 5150 PC had an add on called
"Easywriter" that was fairly user friendly. I may still have a copy
here somewhere. It wasn't really part of DOS although you could add it
to your DOS diskette. (no hard drives in those days)