Index.dat files...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ismael
  • Start date Start date
I

Ismael

Hello,

I've read that the index.dat files contains information on what websites a
user has visited and all of the email that has been sent or received through
Outlook or Outlook Express is also being logged. I've done a search for
this file and found a bunch of them on my hard drive. If I delete these
files in DOS what are the consequences of doing so?

Thanks to all who reply,

Ismael
 
Ismael said:
Hello,

I've read that the index.dat files contains information on what websites a user
has visited and all of the email that has been sent or received through Outlook or
Outlook Express is also being logged. I've done a search for this file and found
a bunch of them on my hard drive. If I delete these files in DOS what are the
consequences of doing so?
Click to expand...

See if this applies to what you want to accomplish or addresses your query.
<http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm>

Silj

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siljaline

MS - MVP Windows (IE/OE) & Security, AH-VSOP
_________________________________________
Security Tools Updates
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=31

Reply to group, as return address
is invalid that we may all benefit.
 
Just because you read something on the internet, doesn't make it true.
Index.dat is not a "log" in the traditional sense, and certainly not in the
sense that I suspect you assume.

Index.dat files manage the content of various folders; without index.dat,
Windows does not know how what to do with the content of the folders..
index.dat is exactly what its name describes it as.. an "index" of the
contents of a folder. Just like a table of contents guides a reader about
where to find information, index.dat guides Windows when working out what to
do with the often thousands of files in a cache folder.

Or, as Microsoft describes it "It facilitates the browser cache mechanism
that speeds access to frequently accessed web pages across different browser
processes in the same user context."

If you delete the files in DOS, you must also delete the rest of the content
in the folders... they're essentially orphaned.. useless.. without
index.dat.

--
__________________________________________
Sandi - Microsoft MVP since 1999
http://www.ie-vista.com
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org

Inetexplorer has changed - for instructions on how to
find old URLs, go here:
http://msmvps.com/spywaresucks/archive/2005/05/14/46971.aspx
 
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