Duplicate files don’t pose an obvious threat to your PC, aside from cluttering your folders with extra versions of documents, photos, videos and other items. But as they accumulate, they’ll have a detrimental effect on the speed and stability of your system, without you realising they’re to blame.
Not only do duplicates consume valuable hard-drive space, but they also mean your computer has to work harder to perform everyday tasks. Whenever it runs a malware scan, updates its search index or creates a backup, it’s forced to include these unnecessary copies, which significantly slows everything down.
Duplicates creep on to your PC in a variety of ways. You may have downloaded the same files twice, copied items instead of moving them, selected ‘Save as’ instead of Save, backed up folders…
