How to remove duplicate files in Windows 10 [Step-by-step]

by Matthew Adams

Windows & Software Expert

Last update:February 25, 2021

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Duplicated files are two, or more, of exactly the same file. You’ll be surprised just how many duplicated files there might be on your hard drive.

Even if you haven’t intentionally saved any duplicates of documents or images, software can often have various duplicated files in alternative folders.

Superfluous duplicate files can waste quite a bit of hard drive storage space. So, it’s surprising Windows 10 doesn’t include a built-in file scanner with which users can find and delete duplicated files.

The easiest way to resolve this issue is by using CCleaner. This amazing software can help you remove any duplicates and offers a wide range of other useful options.

However, there are plenty of third-party system maintenance and more specific duplicate file-cleaning utilities for Windows to scan for and erase duplicates with.

How can I delete duplicate files in Windows 10?

1. Use Easy Duplicate Finder

Easy Duplicate Finder is an excellent smart solution that uses the latest technologies to quickly identify all the duplicate files on your PC.

It can be used by anyone and thanks to the drag-and-drop mechanics, you can become a pro in just a few seconds.

Actually, we don’t include any complicated indications on how to use it because it’s just a three-step process to get rid of the duplicate files on your drives.

That implies downloading and installing the software, starting the Wizard tool with one click, and eliminating the duplicate files with another click. Done, you just reclaimed tons of free space on your drives.

However, just because you can deal with this problem with minimum effort, that doesn’t mean that Easy Duplicate Finder is rudimentary.

You can always go into more advanced options because you have over 10 scan modes and search methods for advanced file management at your disposal.

And if you ran out of space on your cloud storage, this software also works on those solutions, including Google Drive and Dropbox. Hit the button below and try this tool in seconds.

Easy Duplicate Finder

Use the smart Wizard tool inside Easy Duplicate Finder to get rid of the duplicate files in seconds.

Free trialVisit website

2. Erase duplicate files with CCleaner

1. Download CCleaner and install it.
2. Open CCleaner.
   
3. Click Tools on the left of the window.
4. Select Duplicate Finder to open the utility shown directly below.
   

Configure the search options

1. Select the Name and Size Match by checkboxes.
2. Exclude system and hidden files from the search by selecting the ignore System files and Hidden files checkboxes.
3. If you prefer not to place any file size constraints on the search, uncheck the File size under and File size over checkboxes.
4. To scan the full hard drive, select the C: drive option.

Select specific folders and file types to scan

1. Press the Add button to open the window shown in the shot directly below.
   
2. Click Browse to choose a more specific folder or hard drive partition.
3. Click the File Types radio button. Then you can enter more specific file types for the scan to search for, such as PNG, MP3, DOC, etc.
4. Press the OK button.

Exclude folder and files

1. To leave folders out of the search, select the Exclude tab.
2. Click the Add button.
   
3. Click Browse to select a folder to exclude.
4. Click OK to confirm the selected folder.
5. You can select your C: drive and the File Types radio button to specify specific file formats to leave out of searches.
6. Click OK to exit the Exclude window.

Erase the duplicated files

1. Click Search to initiate the scan.
2. Now go through the list of detected duplicates. Select checkboxes for duplicate files to delete.
   
3. To select all duplicates, right-click a listed file and click the Select All option.
   
4. Press the Delete Selected button to erase the duplicate files

CCleaner’s Duplicate Finder is a perfectly sufficient utility for purging duplicated files with. However, there are many other alternative duplicate file finder software.

⇒ Get CCleaner

Our duplicate finder software guide provides further details about the best utilities for deleting duplicated files.

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