Internet Explorer and index.dat's

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Guest

I am/was very good with Win95/98/ME, but new to XP Pro.

In the older versions with IE 5 & 6, there was a privacy issue with the
index.dat files in the C:\Windows Cookies/History/Temporary Files folders.
They could however be deleted from DOS.

In XP Pro, I can not see those files in the Documents&Settings\current
user\local settings folders, but they appear to be connected somehow with
those same folder names under the Administrators user folders - wherein are
some index.dats.

Can someone explain how XP Pro is set up and how I can from time to time
delete/reset these files since no DOS?

If anyone has a third party program to recommend, I would appreciate that
also.

Thanks
 
Lexus said:
Can someone explain how XP Pro is set up and how I can from time to time
delete/reset these files since no DOS?
Click to expand...

You can delete the INDEX.DAT from another user account, f. e. from the
internal "Administrator" account. Usually this is not necessary, since
if you delete the Temporary Internet Files via the Windows Explorer or
the Internet Explorer, the INDEX.DAT is rewritten and the data is
deleted from here as well.
 
Thanks for the reply, but could you be more specific on how to delete.

For example, I am the only user (there is and administrator account
somewhere, my understanding it only show in safe mode?).

So if my user account is reflected in the administrators account, is that
where the index.dat is? My internet temp file is a singular file, the
admininstrator temp file is more traditional with 4 subfolders and an
index.dat. The index.dat is currently at 240k up from 32k even tho I clear
my temp file after closing IE each time.

So can I as a user (with adminstrator privleges) delete the Administrators
index.dat? And from where? Inside windows? Safe Mode?

Thanks
 
| > > I am/was very good with Win95/98/ME, but new to XP Pro.
| > > In the older versions with IE 5 & 6, there was a privacy issue with the
| > > index.dat files in the C:\Windows Cookies/History/Temporary Files folders.
| > > They could however be deleted from DOS.
|
| > > In XP Pro, I can not see those files in the Documents&Settings\current
| > > user\local settings folders, but they appear to be connected somehow with
| > > those same folder names under the Administrators user folders
| > > - wherein are some index.dats.
|
| > > Can someone explain how XP Pro is set up and how I can from time to time
| > > delete/reset these files since no DOS?

| "Thorsten Matzner" wrote:
| > You can delete the INDEX.DAT from another user account, f. e. from the
| > internal "Administrator" account. Usually this is not necessary, since
| > if you delete the Temporary Internet Files via the Windows Explorer or
| > the Internet Explorer, the INDEX.DAT is rewritten and the data is
| > deleted from here as well.

| Thanks for the reply, but could you be more specific on how to delete.
|
| For example, I am the only user (there is and administrator account
| somewhere, my understanding it only show in safe mode?).
|
| So if my user account is reflected in the administrators account, is that
| where the index.dat is? My internet temp file is a singular file, the
| admininstrator temp file is more traditional with 4 subfolders and an
| index.dat. The index.dat is currently at 240k up from 32k even tho I clear
| my temp file after closing IE each time.
|
| So can I as a user (with adminstrator privleges) delete the Administrators
| index.dat? And from where? Inside windows? Safe Mode?


If you restart into your normal user account, but do not reestablish your
Internet connection, you will see all the folders under
Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5, just as you would see them in Win 98.

Or, if you log into another account with admin rights, in Explorer,
navigate to the Temporary Internet Files folder of your normal user account,
where you will now see \Content.IE5 and its subfolders.
- -
Your user account is *not* reflected in the administrators account.
However, you can access folders\files of all accounts from any account which
has admin rights.

You can delete the Administrators index.dat file, but this file has nothing
to do with the index.dat file in your normal user account.

In XP Home Editon, the "Administrator" account is accessible when you boot
into safe mode.

In XP Pro, the "Administrator" account is accessible via Welcome screen...

TweakUI for XP
Login
[Y] Show "Administrator" on Welcome screen

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp
Note: V2.10.0.0 needs at least Windows XP SP 1
 
I use a batch file that runs at boot. It deletes every index.dat file on my
machine. Of course they are recreated. run.bat is the batch file. Located
in C:\

I have a start reference here >>>

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Value Name: My Indexdat Killer
Value Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: C:\run.bat

I created the batch file with IndexDat Suite and modified it.

Featured Product Index.dat Suite (It's free)
http://support.it-mate.co.uk/?mode=Home

Set it up once and no messing around. ;-)
 
Lexus said:
For example, I am the only user (there is and administrator account
somewhere, my understanding it only show in safe mode?).
Exactly.

So can I as a user (with adminstrator privleges) delete the Administrators
index.dat? And from where? Inside windows? Safe Mode?
Click to expand...

Vice versa: log on as the Administrator and in C:\DOCUMENTS AND
SETTINGS\{username}\LOCAL SETTINGS delete the TIF folder.
 
Lexus said:
Thanks for the reply, but could you be more specific on how to delete.

For example, I am the only user (there is and administrator account
somewhere, my understanding it only show in safe mode?).

So if my user account is reflected in the administrators account, is
that
where the index.dat is? My internet temp file is a singular file, the
admininstrator temp file is more traditional with 4 subfolders and an
index.dat. The index.dat is currently at 240k up from 32k even tho I
clear
my temp file after closing IE each time.

So can I as a user (with adminstrator privleges) delete the
Administrators
index.dat? And from where? Inside windows? Safe Mode?

Thanks

:
-
"Lexus" (e-mail address removed) wrote:
-
Can someone explain how XP Pro is set up and how I can from time to
time
delete/reset these files since no DOS?-

You can delete the INDEX.DAT from another user account, f. e. from
the
internal "Administrator" account. Usually this is not necessary,
since
if you delete the Temporary Internet Files via the Windows Explorer
or
the Internet Explorer, the INDEX.DAT is rewritten and the data is
deleted from here as well.
Click to expand...
BLOATWARE INSTALLED, NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH COMPREHENSIVE CCLEANER
FREEWARE (HTTP://WWW.CCLEANER.COM). TO ONLY REMOVE THE 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.)*
 
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