Deleting Duplicate Files

Hello All!

I have a question regarding Duplicate files that were brought up in my EasyClean utility. I have never deleted any of these because I wasn't sure which of the two is the important one.

I find a regular pattern and there are three distinct listings in all 1900 Duplications. (I know I KNow...Thats a HUGE amount of duplicates)

I will put the three examples below:

C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386\rsh.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\rsh.exe

C:\cabs\Apps\Helpspt2\program files\Gateway\Helpspot\9550.exe
C:\Program Files\Gateway\Helpspot\9550.exe

C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\filename.dll
C:\ProgramFiles\Common Files\System\filename.dll


My question is this, On the first example, are the filenames with the ServicePack listing the important ones or the System32?

And the same with the other two listings. I'm just not sure which is the important one in these and all my duplicate listings folow these examples, but with different file names.

Hope I've explained this well enough and I appreciate any feedback I can get on this subject!

Thanks so Much!!

Wait for confirmation on this, but...

It's most likely that the files in C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles, and C:\cabs are both the original files either installed or downloaded, which the actual updates were performed FROM, and are no longer necessary once the programs are installed and running. For example:

C:\cabs\Apps\Helpspt2\program files\Gateway\Helpspot\9550.exe

and C:\Program Files\Gateway\Helpspot\9550.exe

the original patch files was in a "cabinet" file (c:\cabs)... once it has been uncompressed and installed, it's in the c:\program files folder, so probably the c:\cabs\etc.... entry can now be deleted.

You can always make a backup before deleting just in case...;)

Very chancy you'll delete the correct one, reason I stay away from EasyCleaner's duplicate files function. Saw one instance where these dups were deleted and computer wouldn't boot again afterward. In my opinion......stay away from deleting duplicates.

The ServicePackFiles folder was created when you installed SP2. MS recommend that you don't delete it.

Quote:

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The ServicePackFiles folder contains the updated versions of the Windows 2000 system files installed by the Service Pack. This folder is used when additional components are installed to ensure that the most recent version of the files are used. This folder is also used by the Windows File Protection system to restore corrupt or missing versions of the Service Pack files.

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From this article (will apply to XP as well as Win2000):

How to remove the service pack files and folders in Windows