index.dat - can it be cleared?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Babel17delany
  • Start date Start date
Thank you very much for your reply. I will download ".Net" (from the
Microsoft site?) and then download CleanCache next weekend (weekends are
the only time I have to do much other than pick up e-mail on the computer).
 
"Usage Tracks" is how SpyBot refers collectively to Cache, History and
Temporary Internet Files.

Now what you have just explained is very different from what others have
said on this thread. Perhaps I should, next weekend, check the size of
index.dat before and after I close Internet Explorer.
 
Babel17delany said:
Is there an easy way to clear the content of Index.dat in Windows XP?
Are there downloadable programs to do this for XP?
Click to expand...

You can delete it without using any software other than Windows. Log out of
you user profile and login as "Administrator" (or a different user account
with administrator rights). Then navigate through Windows Explorer to
something similar to: C:\Documents and Settings\{user profile name}\Local
Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5 You can safely delete
*everything* in this directory which includes the index.dat file.
 
Hey Johnny u mentioned about da content.IE5 file. i get all da files listed
directly in da temp internet files folder. But i do try to remove index.dat
but in vain.yesterday i downloaded a software CCleaner & tried to erase da
index file. but it did not work. i hv index files in C:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator\Cookies. pls help
 
Ted my cookies index.dat file stands at 32kb as we speak. So does my temp
internet file and history. As soon as I use cleancache they will be deleted
and returned to 16kb. If I've left them long enough they have gone even
higher than 32kb.
 
I'm not sure where you're going with that point. My index.dat has never gone
above 32kb, and that size is the inevitable result of storing cookies. I
suppose I could refuse all cookies, but that's not an option for me.

As I recall from my 9x days, deleting the indicies broke the link to cookies
and internet history. Users who deleted the indicies were advised to clear
their cookies and history since, without an index, they were pretty much
useless. The few cookies I keep are really handy to have around.

In any case, the limited users on my computer can't even get to my
index.dat.

Index.dat bloat was a frequently observed problem in the 9x versions of
Windows. I have personally not read of index.dat bloat being an issue with
XP. Of course I would be interested in reading otherwise.

Where a user has two or more admin accounts on the same computer, or where
all users share the same account, there are larger privacy issues. And if a
user is so concerned that other users on the computer will want to spy on
them, there are problems substantially more serious than index.dat!

I am personally not aware of any exploit where the intruder's goal was to
glean information from the user's indicies, but like I say, I would be
interested to learn otherwise.
--
Ted Zieglar


John Barnett MVP said:
Ted my cookies index.dat file stands at 32kb as we speak. So does my temp
internet file and history. As soon as I use cleancache they will be deleted
and returned to 16kb. If I've left them long enough they have gone even
higher than 32kb.
Click to expand...
 
Ted Zieglar said:
"On deleting the temporary internet files from your pc the files does not
go back to 16k and is therefore not cleansed."

As one who used to delete the indexes during my Windows 9x days, I was
interested to see if this was still needed in XP. After 2.5 years of using
XP, I have never noticed the indexes increasing in size beyond the
default.

Ted Zieglar
Click to expand...

My index.dat (Windows XP Pro) constantly grows in size. It is currently at
over 600k even after purging all temp internet files and cookies!
 
Frank Saunders said:
See
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm
Click to expand...


Thanks, but I already know how to delete it. I was just commenting to a
poster that stated that the index.dat resizes after deleting Temp Internet
files and cookies. Mine and all of those that I have worked on has an
index.dat file that continually grows in size until it is deleted and
automatically replaced by a new default one.
 
Babel17delany said:
Is there an easy way to clear the content of Index.dat in Windows XP?
Are there downloadable programs to do this for XP?
Click to expand...
THIS REMOVES INDEX.DAT FOR EVERY USER ON AN XP SYSTEM:

1. Create text file C:\WINDOWS\WINSTOP.CMD which contains the
following:
:begin
if .%1==. goto loop
goto path

:loop
cd /d %AllUsersProfile%\..
for /d %%f in (*.*) do call %SystemRoot%\winstop.cmd %%f
exit

:path
cd %1
del Cookies\index.dat
del "Local Settings\History\index.dat"
del "Local Settings\History\History.IE5\index.dat"
del "Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat"

:end
cd ..
2. Open your Scheduled Tasks control panel & add the new task to run
C:\WINDOWS\WINSTOP.CMD scheduled at logon.

3. Logoff & then logon again to activate the schedule. *
This will erase INDEX.DAT for all users each time you log on, or you
can disable the schedule & use it only as needed. Technically you are
logged on when this happens, although the folks at SpyBot maintain
these need a reboot to safely remove. (For some reason the Scheduled
Task works better than using logon/logoff scripts in Group Policy.)*
 
Hi Alan.1,
I dont have the OP's text to respond to, and beg your pardon to linking to
your reply.
I use a good free program called "ID Suite", and can be downloaded from
www.it-mate.co.uk
Rob.
|
| Babel17delany Wrote:
| > Is there an easy way to clear the content of Index.dat in Windows XP?
| > Are there downloadable programs to do this for XP?
| > --
| > Remove the "Delany" to reply.
| THIS REMOVES INDEX.DAT FOR EVERY USER ON AN XP SYSTEM:
|
| 1. Create text file C:\WINDOWS\WINSTOP.CMD which contains the
| following:
| :begin
| if .%1==. goto loop
| goto path
|
| :loop
| cd /d %AllUsersProfile%\..
| for /d %%f in (*.*) do call %SystemRoot%\winstop.cmd %%f
| exit
|
| :path
| cd %1
| del Cookies\index.dat
| del "Local Settings\History\index.dat"
| del "Local Settings\History\History.IE5\index.dat"
| del "Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat"
|
| :end
| cd ..
| 2. Open your Scheduled Tasks control panel & add the new task to run
| C:\WINDOWS\WINSTOP.CMD scheduled at logon.
|
| 3. Logoff & then logon again to activate the schedule. *
| This will erase INDEX.DAT for all users each time you log on, or you
| can disable the schedule & use it only as needed. Technically you are
| logged on when this happens, although the folks at SpyBot maintain
| these need a reboot to safely remove. (For some reason the Scheduled
| Task works better than using logon/logoff scripts in Group Policy.)*
|
|
| --
| alan.1
 
I use that program also. :-)

But, be cautious about deleting >>>

\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\index.dat.

This index.dat does not get recreated. The loss of this particlar file will
cripple System Information (msinfo32.exe). This index.dat actually does
something besides growing to a huge size.


--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Sorry for jumping in but are you saying that this particular index.dat
shouldn't be deleted via the software mentioned? I'm not an expert when it
comes to batch files or VBS but I don't think that this will be deleted at
startup if the winstop.cmd is created as suggested. I had thought about
using this but modifying it so it only ran once a week to clear the
index.dat files. If it does delete files other than those which can be
deleted safely, I'll give it a miss!!!
 
\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\index.dat Should not be deleted in
any way.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
I just ran Index.dat Suite. I saved the results of Find. Index.dat Suite
saves these results in a file called results.ini located in C:\Program
Files\Index.dat Suite.

Index.dat Suite combined with me blindly using it was the culprit, in my
case, for deleting the wrong index.dat file. I have nothing against
Index.dat Suite, it was only recently discovered and posted that the the
deletion of this index.dat file was the cause of the msinfo32 opening in
Help and support. There are other work arounds, but replacing the missing
file is the best bet.

Note that C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OFFLIN~1\index.dat
is the Short File Name (8.3 Name format) version of
C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache\index.dat

Here are those results...

C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\History\History.IE5\MSHIST~1\index.dat -
32.00KB
C:\DOCUME~1\WESLEY~1.VOG\Cookies\index.dat - 16.00 KB
C:\DOCUME~1\WESLEY~1.VOG\LOCALS~1\History\History.IE5\index.dat - 16.00 KB
C:\DOCUME~1\WESLEY~1.VOG\LOCALS~1\History\History.IE5\MSHIST~1\index.dat -16
..00 KB
C:\DOCUME~1\WESLEY~1.VOG\LOCALS~1\TEMPOR~1\Content.IE5\index.dat - 32.00 KB
C:\DOCUME~1\WESLEY~1.VOG\MYDOCU~1\COMPUT~1\MSINFO\WINDOW~1.DAT\index.dat -84
..76 KB
C:\DOCUME~1\WESLEY~1.VOG\UserData\index.dat - 16.00 KB
C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OFFLIN~1\index.dat - 84.76 KB
C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SYSTEM~1\Cookies\index.dat - 16.00 KB
C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SYSTEM~1\LOCALS~1\History\History.IE5\index.dat -
32.00 KB
C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SYSTEM~1\LOCALS~1\History\History.IE5\MSHIST~1\in
dex.dat - 32.00 KB
C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SYSTEM~1\LOCALS~1\TEMPOR~1\Content.IE5\index.dat
- 32.00 KB

Index.dat Suite has an option to not select any index.dat files. Do not
select >>
C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OFFLIN~1\index.dat

Also has an option to automatically generate the batch file. You should not
use that option.

You can also edit the batch file to exclude
C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OFFLIN~1\index.dat

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
I just downloaded, installed and ran the latest version of Index.dat Suite,
ver 2.7.0.5.

\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache is in RED text and UNChecked by
default.

Steven was way ahead of us. ;-)

From Index.dat Suite Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What are the checkboxes for on the main IDFinder window?

A. The checkboxes allow you to exclude items from the generated .bat file.
All items CHECKED will be included, UNCHECKED items will be excluded.

Note: If you have enabled the option labelled "Use default file generation
routine to remove all index.dat files", this setting will be ignored, and
all items included, regardless of whether they are checked or unchecked.
----

Index.dat Suite
Settings and Options - General

The following settings are available on the General tab.

General
Mark items in red that may not be safe to delete

By default this setting is enabled, and allows Index.dat Suite to
automatically mark and exclude items that have been detected but are known
to cause problems when deleted.

Items with the following in their paths, are automatically marked during the
scan;

PPSRIN~1 (PPSRIndex.dat - Pest Patrol data file)
HELPCTR (index.dat -Microsoft Windows Help Center)

At present, we are unsure as to why deleting the HELPCTR index.dat file
would cause problems. However, we have checked it's contents, and confirmed,
it is not the same kind of index.dat file as those used by Internet Explorer
or Windows.

Reccomendation: Leave checked
---

Always verify batch file contents after file generation

When enabled, Index.dat Suite will perform a scan on the generated batch
file, to check for invalid or potentially dangerous commands (e.g. deltree
/y *.*)

Reccomendation: Should only be disabled if user is experiencing persistent
IDSE0500 errors
----


--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
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