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How do I read the index.dat files?

Trish's Escape from Hardware Hell Help Board » Software » Internet Related » How do I read the index.dat files? « Previous Next »

Author Message
Jeremy
Posted on Thursday, August 15, 2002 - 11:34 am:   

How do I read index.dat files in Windows 98? They're in the History and Cookies folders. What exactly do they contain? And, after reading them, do I want to erase them?
win
Posted on Thursday, August 15, 2002 - 1:05 pm:   

they contain a log of the cookies in that folder, you can open then up in notepad and read them. if you want to erase the inconsistancies, you reboot to a dos prompt, and type this at the c:\ prompt:

del windows\cookies\index.dat

which will delete the file and when you reboot into normal mode, windows will recreate it using the current contents of that folder.

as far as the history, all you need do is go to IE properties and click the "clear history" button which will delete that. all that has in it is the sites you've visited recently, and you can reset them to be deleted everyday, if you want, in the IE properties right next to the "clear history" button.

if you go to the section on "deleting temporary files painlessly" on another posting, you can see more info about this here from trish and others.
oRioN
Posted on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 11:37 am:   

I agree with win however instead of deleting the file from DOS you can also download special programs such as Window Washer which will take the file and wash/bleach it completely. (Take the file and rename it several times, resize it to 0 bytes, then overwrite it several times, and delete it permanently). Great program for doing the same thing to old files you don't use. But don't listen to that advertising crap about "Do you want your spouse/girlfriend/boss/kids to see where you've been on the Internet? Deleting your files isn't enough! Clearing IE cache wont' save you!" junk. That's blown way out of line just to scare you. Although it's true it's not freaky like it sounds.

Using such things as Window Washer to maintain your system isn't for beginners I guess. Remember the computer is only as smart and capable as the person who uses it.

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