iPhoto is a good thing. Pre-installed on every new computer cranked out by Cupertino, millions of Mac users have come to rely upon the application's user-friendly functionality to collect, edit and share their photos, as these are all tasks that iPhoto does very well.

That said, I think we can agree that the software flounders in a sea of fail when it comes to finding and deleting duplicate photos that--by way of editing or import--have found their way into your photo collection. Sure, you could root through your iPhoto collection and delete each and everyone of the duplicates you stumble across manually, but if you're anything like us, you've got so many photos crammed into your Mac that the thought of doing is daunting, to say the least. Fortunately, there's a far easier way to rid your iPhoto collection of those darned duplicates.

Step One: Download and Install Duplicate Annihilator

Yep, it's just that easy. This is a Monday morning how-to, and as such, no black magic of quantum physics are involved. Bratoo Propaganda Software's Duplicate Annihilator is a one stop shop of a plug-in that will bring almost instant sanity to your iPhoto collection. In fact, depending on the size of your iPhoto gallery, it could very well take you longer to type the developer's name than it does for Duplicate Annihilatorto track down and destroy all of your photographic duplicates.

Once the program's .DMG file is safely nestled away in your download folder, open it and drag the Duplicate Annihilator to the Application Folder shortcut built into the installation window.

Step Two: Lock and Load

Locate the program in your Applications folder and open it. For your efforts, you'll be rewarded with a bare bones user interface that will let you get right down to business. By default, the interface opens to a tab named Find duplicates, which is good, because that's what this tutorial is all about.

Make sure that the options on this tab are set to move duplicates to trash--which will ensure that the program cloisters off your duplicates to the Trash folder--and Classic mode: a setting that forces the program to abide by your choices you make in the applications other tabs.

Speaking of which, click on the tab marked Preferences. Make sure that the options "MD5 checksum" and "Set duplicates' comments to duplicate" are selected. Doing so will ensure that Duplicate Annihilator will spot the duplicates in your iPhoto collection based upon their content, and mark any suspected duplicates as--you guessed it--duplicate.

Step Three: Hunt 'Em Down

Return to the Find duplicates tab and click "Find and annihilate duplicates". If you downloaded the free version of the application, it will scan a maximum of 500 images in your iPhoto gallery. Let the application do its thing.

While you wait for your duplicates to be hunted out, be sure not to open up iPhoto for any reason. Doing so could at worst, damage your library and at least mess with Duplicate Annihilator's cleaning of said library.Once the program has completed its work, it will inform you of how many duplicates it found. As soon as you recieve that message, you can open up iPhoto and finish cleaning up your library.

Step Four: Enjoy Your Handiwork

Open up your Mac's Trash folder. You'll find that Duplicate Annihilator has moved all of the image files it believes to be duplicates there. You can choose to either chuck them out or, alternately, send them back to iPhoto if you want to keep it. We're sure that you'll agree that the trial edition of Duplicate Annihilator makes locating and nuking duplicates in your iPhoto gallery so easy that it's easy to justfy paying $7.99 to score the full version.

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