Compare names

This option does actually not correspond to the original idea of Anti-Twin, because Anti-Twin has actually been designed for the comparison if file content and not search for names. Names may be inadequate for a safe comparison, since they can be imprecise or wrong.
However, when it turned out that most users thought that Anti-Twin would only compare file names, I added this function to the program.

The option “Compare names” is only made fort he comparison of file names, i.e. the comparison is made irrespective of the file content. You can combine the name comparison options with the content comparison options. However, please note that if you select the name comparison only, the search results are not very accurate, because a name may not give much indication of the file content.

ONLY VERSION 1.8: The option “Match at least x percent” only refers to the file name without file extension. For 100%, the name must be absolutely identical, for lower percentages the names may diverge slightly, e.g. "Janet04.jpg" and "Janet05.jpg" are listed as similar files. Since the comparison of names already is a very unsafe comparison method, please be even more careful with the results when using this method.

If you add the option “different extensions”, Anti-Twin will ignore the file types (extensions), i.e. Anti-Twin will list for example a word file named "Susan.doc" and a video named "Susan.avi" as similar files. There are only few purposes of application of this option.

ONLY VERSION 1.8: The option “identical file size” does actually not really match with the name comparison, but may still make sense if you want to do without the content comparison (e.g. to avoid computer slow down) but still wish to consider only files with similar content (at least in terms of their size).

Compare content

The comparison of file content is the recommended method to search for identical or similar files. However, the content comparison takes considerably longer than the name comparison. Assuming that similar files also have similar file names, you can combine both comparison methods – this combination will have positive effects on the search speed!

If you carry out the byte-by-byte-comparison with 100% match you can be absolutely sure that Anti-Twin will only display completely identical files in the list of results (note for engineers: Anti-Twin does not only rely on check sums / hash values).

For the use of lower match rates or the comparison of images please read the following page:
Similar content or pixel comparison