Pause duplicate-file scan after set number
AllDup (www.snipca.com/49056) is such a brilliant duplicate remover that you could have devoted the whole of Issue 677’s Cover Feature to it, not just one page. One hidden option you didn’t mention was the option to cancel its scan after it’s found a set number of duplicate files. This can help you deal with duplicates in batches, so you don’t feel overwhelmed by them.
Open AllDup, then click Search Options ( 1in our screenshot) and look for the ‘During the search process’ heading. Now tick the box ‘Cancel search when certain number of duplicates are found’ and in the box below replace the default 999 with a new number. I normally select just 50 2because dealing with more than that in one go is too daunting.
As you can imagine, limiting the scan to 50 means it takes hardly any time at all – even less than the four seconds it took you to find 656 duplicates.
Colin North
Colin wins a copy of our 2023 Back Issue CD Buy it from us at www.snipca.com/48860
MUSICDigitise cassettes using car audio cables
In Issue 677’s Reader Support (page 71), Roger Hewitt was having trouble digitising his old cassettes using a USB cable. I did this successfully by using a car’s aux cable that has a 3.5in jack at each end. One plugs into the earphones socket of the cassette player, and the other into a 3.5in jack input socket on my computer. I found I couldn’t hear what was being recorded so I bought a headphone splitter which allows me to insert headphones while still connecting the two devices.
I use Audacity (www.audacityteam. org) to record the audio. Launch this, and make sure the volume is at about halfway on both your player and computer. Click the Record button in Audacity, then put on your headphones and press play on your cassette player.
Once completed, the recording will be presented as a waveform. Highlight the blank sections at the start and end and remove them. Now click Select at the top of Audacity, then choose ‘All’. Next, click Effect, then Amplify. Audacity will show you the maximum amplification without distortion. It’s 9.196 decibels (dB) in our screenshot below left 1 . You can move the slider to change this 2 , and click Preview 3to hear it. Click OK when you’re happy. When completed, export your recording through the File menu.
Bill Power
VIDEO CHATShare screenshots on Skype
Thanks to the knowledge I’ve gained from years of reading ComputeractiveI’m now considered the tech expert of our extended family. As suc
