Delete duplicate photos with this free PC software

AllDup is a great Windows app for cleaning up your photo folder.

- JARED NEWMAN

Not long ago, I tackled the long-overdue tech project of cleaning out my computer’s Pictures folder. It had grown ever more unwieldy after years of backing up my phone’s photos and dumping the contents of my DSLR’s memory cards, so I decided it was finally time to eliminate duplicate photos, blurry shots, useless screengrabs, and other assorted detritus. That allowed me to sort the remaining contents into albums without much hassle.

Why did my Pictures folder get so messy? Mostly, I blame Google Photos, which makes searching through old pictures so easy that I was content to just ignore my hard drive’s backup folder, knowing that it existed mainly for safekeeping.

But now that unlimited Google Photos has gone away (fave.co/33KSRyq), I decided it was time to stop being complacent. Even if I keep using the service (at the cost of another cloud storage subscription), I like the idea of having a backup plan.

Still, I winced at the thought of sorting through thousands of old photos one by one. What I really needed was a way to eliminate similar-looking photos in bulk and winnow my remaining library down to a much more manageable size. Fortunately, I found exactly what I was looking for with a free duplicate photo cleaner for Windows called AllDup (fave.co/3JTNkFs).

ALLDUP FOR WINDOWS

Unlike most of the results that appear when you search the web for duplicate photo removers, AllDup has no ads, in-app purchases, or usage limitations. And while it’s a little ungainly to set up, the payoffis in all the ways it lets you customize your duplicate file searches.