how to delete index.dat file

Back in the happy days on Win98, you could simply boot to dos and delete your index.dat file. No such luck with WinXP.

I had looked for ways to delete this darn file..... with no luck. There are programs to install that will do it, but they are as much of a pain as leaving it alone.

Well.... that's changed. I have found a way to delete the file by hand.

1) close all programs
2) ctrl-alt-del, task manager
3) end process on explorer
4) run, CMD
5) change to the appropriate directory and delete the file: example c:\documents and settings\administrator\local settings\temporary internet files\content.ie5\
6) exit dos prompt
7) run, explorer
8) done

Works like a champ.

Have you considered using something OTHER than IE for your web browsing? I'm using Firefox and Mozilla myself.
But I have to admit, there are rare occasions where I do need to go back to Internet Exploder though.

IE does not contain security holes. IE is a security hole.

I've been using Firefox for quite some time now. There are very few websites that require meto use IE anymore - mostly sites using ActiveX (gotta love those "all or nothing" permissions).


In the words of the person that posted this elsewhere - "I LOLed"

The easy way is to log off and then log in as another user with admin privileges.

turbo... if you would be so kind... could you please explain to everyone why they would want to do this? Thanks much! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Index.dat is a log of every URL that Internet Explorer has ever visited. It is not erased when you erase IE's history. If you're a parent, you might appreciate that "feature" of Windows/IE.

There are copies kept in more than one location. If you delete one and not the others, it will respawn.

You can purchase software to exorcise index.dat, but it's relatively easy to do it yourself.

Information here:

http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/del_index.dat/

http://filext.com/info/showthread.php?t=33

index.dat is the most popular file name in Redmond. Several MS programs create their own index.dat files, including MS Office. I have 84 index.dat files on this machine, but I have several user accounts and lots of programs.

I.E. apparently creates several, but they all seem to be different. If you have found duplicates, let me know. I've never seen this. index.dat files are indeed re-created if they have been deleted, but they simply start all over again, as far as I know.

If you are really paranoid, you can delete the Administrator's and other user's index.dat files, if you have admin privileges, then log in as Administrator or another admin user and delete yours. Trying to delete your own index.dat files while logged in as yourself is doing things the hard way, because they are apt to be in use.

Personally, I only delete them when they get big.

I haven't tried to nuke index.dat from Windows XP yet. I sort of like spying on what my kids are viewing. So far, no red flags (whew!).

I used to use Spider to scan and delete index.dat with Windows 98. I noticed that manually deleting only one of the index.dat files didn't clear out the list of URLs I'd previously visited, so I assumed that Windows 98 respawned index.dat from one of the redundant clones. Maybe I just didn't delete the one used by IE?

[ QUOTE ]
eluminator said:
The easy way is to log off and then log in as another user with admin privileges.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm pretty sure I've tried this, and pretty sure it didn't work. In any case..... this method is faster, and I don't have to make another login/profile on my pc.

As far as "why" goes, I'll repeat some of what's been said so far:

1) By DEFAULT this file keeps a log of ever site and page you visit, and it is not erased by a deletion of your history/cache/etc.

2) If corrupt, it can really mess up IE

3) Whenever you get on the net, it checks the current page against its database. I have seen index.dat files in excess of 15 megs. This takes a noticable amount of time to search, and that's before it starts to access the cache files themselves. Delete your file, and you start from scratch.

4) There are multiple files, but one does not respawn the other(s). Windows will make a new file, but it is a fresh file (empty).

5) A properly patched/configured machine poses little to no security problems for inet/email/etc.

In short, this is a nice little trick to easily delete a file that is otherwise locked/in use.

[ QUOTE ]
Hookd_On_Photons said:
I haven't tried to nuke index.dat from Windows XP yet. I sort of like spying on what my kids are viewing. So far, no red flags (whew!).

I used to use Spider to scan and delete index.dat with Windows 98. I noticed that manually deleting only one of the index.dat files didn't clear out the list of URLs I'd previously visited, so I assumed that Windows 98 respawned index.dat from one of the redundant clones. Maybe I just didn't delete the one used by IE?

[/ QUOTE ]

In 98, there were:

c:\windows\temporary internet files\content.ie5\index.dat

At least 1 other...... can't remember where though, but it's not a primary file..... never grows much in size.

Now.... if your pc was setup with profiles, these locations changed some. C:\windows\profiles\<profile name>\ and on from there.

Oftentime a search of the hdd will NOT turn up the file because it resides in a hidden directory to begin with.

Turbodog, if you are running as Administrator it might be a good idea to create another user. Sometimes a user's profile can get screwed up making it impossible to log on if you don't have another user account. At least that's my theory, and I'm sticking to it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Search companion by default doesn't search hidden or system folders. It has an option to change this. Click on "More advanced options". Still I find it won't search other user's folders unless the account has admin privileges. Of course I'm probably the only person in the world that normally logs on without admin privileges. I guess I'm a masochist.

If you have a file called "kack.exe" in your root directory, shell to DOS, type cd\, then type kack index.dat
That should find and delete all occurrances of index.dat on the disk drive.

There is also another place that betrays your surfing habits. In windows, get to the command line and type:

ipconfig/displaydns

Your machine "caches" addresses each time you put in another web address that is resolved by DNS (i.e, all requests made by your browser). Generally, on a Windows machine, this "DNS cache" remains for about 24 hours, IIRC. This is also a good way to see where someone has been surfing, and it does not get cleared by Window Washer or other Internet "Security" programs. You can clear the cache yourself by using the command:

ipconfig/flushdns

You should get a message back stating that the cache has been successfully flushed. BTW, I'm sure that no one would ever use these tidbits of info to spy on you. . . the government would never allow that, would they?

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Hey, LED Museum, where does one find "kack.exe" if I don't have it. . . and what is it? Thanks, Craig.