Sorry, index.dat again

Hi, Christer ~

I forgot that I was in a WinME thread, so my DOS directions are not as specifically applicable as are the good ones from Alice I glossed over.

In any event, I have had success with Spider in WinME and would be more than happy to help you at any point along the way. If you feel it may detract from this thread, either start a new one and PM me or, preferably, contact me direct at the address in my profile.

 

Hi All
I agree with Alice

" "- like when it's corrupted.
Usually you will have symptoms of that which is why I said to leave well enough alone if you weren't having problems browsing or downloading." " "

" "set IE to delete temporary internet files when the browser is closed " "
But this option has never worked for us on win ME

One strange cure for ? and a easy way to get index.dat back to the original size (in tif) is Just to move the folder reboot when prompted --move it back and reboot again..
Original size on win me upgrade only at ms 304.KB

I discoverd that here but didnt follow all the instructions
just moved it and back again..
MS KB Article

" " "I´m confusing everyone by discussing WinXP but having stated WinME in my profile." " "
No kidding
So tell me if this clears idex dat in XP er ME, still confussed

If You all have already seen that then forgive me
Regards
Lonny

O the cure for us with spider was to turn on animated cursers and back off or just off if already on,, our problem was with an intergrated graphics adapter.

EDIT========================================
we must be talking of a differant Spider program gee and could you please refraise last message Its late in the day fer me
still and always confused anywho
Lonny

 

Hi, Christer ~

The directions to manually delete for XP are the same except you boot to DOS rather than go to the command line. I thought WinME didn't have true DOS anyway?

The spot you quoted about the animated cursors would have absolutely no bearing on 'Spider'. Refer to my previous comment about "chaulked ".

OK, on 'Spider', you will need the opportunity to play with it once or twice to make it do its job, then it will become second nature.

To avoid operator error and improper user configuration, here is what you need to do & you MUST complete the following steps in this EXACT order each time to get it right:

• Open 'Spider'
• Hover over top buttons & click the 'Preferences' button just right of the ambulance icon
• In the 'Options' window, select 'Complete HardDrive' - nothing else!
• Click 'Accept'
• Click the 'Start Search' button w/ magnifying glass icon
• After search is complete, click the 'Cleanup' button w/ ambulance icon

You will now have the 'Select' window (looks confusingly identical to previous 'Options' window). You must do the following at this window:

• Select 'Complete HardDrive'
• Check everything EXCEPT 'Run in silent mode'
• Click 'Accept'

You will then get a 'Confirm' message box stating "The Spider has bitten! Would you like to restart the system now as to eliminate these hidden cache files? " You must select 'Yes' as I am sure you are aware you cannot delete those files while they are in use. When you reboot, you will notice a 'Spider' window showing all the files it deleted. Just click and close it and Windows will finish loading. Windows will automatically rebuild brand new, fresh index.dat files.

For a screenshot and further explanation, please peruse my comprehensive post here

You must scan before you can delete each time you decide to use this app. It is good and simple. Post back if you need any further help.

 

Hi, Christer ~

I suppose it could be read that way, but what I meant was the directions for XP apply to Win ME. It should have read like this:

"The directions to manually delete for XP are the same for WinME except you boot to DOS rather than go to the command line. "

Sorry about the confusion

 

Gee sorry Index.dat Again

I hadnt known spybot can erase index dat

I suppose these instructions are for XP users

" "You can drag-n-drop your TIF files into the "Secure Shredder "
Click Tools | Secure Shredder, right-click in the right panel
Select: Add to file list, select your TIF location.
Click: "Chop it Away! ", close SpyBot and reboot.
Note: a reboot is required to delete the "index.dat "

On 9X systems navigate to Temporary Internet files (open) and search for index.dat and simply drag and drop into spybots
shredder chop it and close reboot done index is now at original size 32KB

Regards
Lonny

 

Lonny,

About the folowing:

How To: Delete the Temporary Internet Files in Windows XP
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

SpyBot Users
You can drag-n-drop your TIF files into the "Secure Shredder "
Click Tools | Secure Shredder, right-click in the right panel
Select: Add to file list, select your TIF location.
Click: "Chop it Away! ", close SpyBot and reboot.
Note: a reboot is required to delete the "index.dat "
==================end copy/paste======================


I looked through some of the links at http://security.kolla.de/
but I didn't see any detailed information about the Secure Shredder tool or about removing index.dat (not much in SpybotSD ver1.2 Help contents either).

(Running Win95) If I open the Temporary Internet Files folder, I can't see the index.dat file. Can you ? What OS are you running?

I can only see the index.dat in Windows\Cookies from Windows Explorer.

I had saved an old log file of an antivirus scan of all files
reporting three copies of index.dat that couldn't be scanned.
(I assume it means that they were in use).
The following is from the notes I made at the time:

C:\WINDOWS\History\History.IE5\index.dat
- unable to open file - not scanned.
C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat
- unable to open file - not scanned.
C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\index.dat - unable to open file - not scanned.

I can see other index.dat files using the ms-dos prompt DIR
command when I'm inside each of the following directories:

C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\ - index.dat is reported to be 81,920 bytes
(also shown as 81,920 bytes, 80.0 KB in Windows Explorer)

C:\WINDOWS\History\History.IE5\
- index.dat is reported to be 196,608 bytes

C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\
- index.dat is reported to be 1,720,320 bytes

(I had to use "cd tempor~2\Content.ie5\ at the C:\Windows> prompt
since, for some reason, my Windows\Temporary Internet Files folder properties show it's MS-Dos name to be tempor~2 and not tempor~1)

 

Hi Alice

On this win me system I cant see tif's index.dat until we open tif
and search for it, then content IE5 and it are somewhat visible.

It doesn't matter whether or not I have show hidden files & folders on or off, nor does hide protected operating system files

I see idex.dat in cookies folder simply by opening its folder,
whether or not hidden or OS system files are shown or not.

Its 160kb, I haven't yet tried deleting it with spybot.
I will --delete cookies first and then drag its index into secure shredder
back in a moment after reboot.
Strangely enough our cookies still showed in both folders till I deleted them..

So original size cookies index is 64KB and idex in content IE5 is
32KB On this machine anyway..
So on any other OS besides windows ME (with folder options)do you first have to un-hide protected operating files and mark also to show hidden files and folders before going to Temporary Internet files to search .

The only reason I mentioned it to begin with is first because I had never heard this before and for you and other BBS members that might know when deleting Idex dat is called for, with spybot it would be allot easyer to explain how.

even easyer would be to simply move the folder and move back
But that wouldn't erase history and cookies idex .


Strange I find hid nor hair of an history idex

There was an update today for spybot ---a help update
but info is still scarce and I see no mention of doing this with any index's.
But it does work
PS I haven't tried yet to navigate to Tif select all and drag to spybots shredder, and I cant get it done the way described by that MVP site
=============================================
Secure shredder tool Dictionary
The secure shredder is a tool to get finally rid of files, without any further possibilities of recovery.

Shredding is simple "“ drop some files from the explorer into the list (or add some using the context menu of the list), select the number of shreds, and click Chop it away.

Usage tracks that are in files will be shredded using this tool, too, using 5 passes.

The first 5 shreds are using pre-defined bit pattern that should make even hardware recovery impossible. Any further pass will use a random bit pattern that is changing every few Bytes.
Please notice: one pass is not enough to shred a file, as the heads of your hard disk won't hit the same track 100,00% of the time. There are small differences of a few µm that will allow pros to reconstruct even overwritten data. That is why multiple shreds are necessary, and why different patterns should be used.

Warning: This tool is designed to remove files so they can not be recovered again! If you use it, be aware of that!
You do not need to use this tool to remove spyware or usage tracks. Spybot-S&D will take care of shredding them on its own.

Disclaimer: I tried my best to finally shred every given to this tool. But I can't guarantee that files will be unrecoverably extinguished.

You can find the secure shredder tool by choosing Secure Shredder from the Tools section in the toolbar to the left.
==========================================

Regards

Lonny

 

Hi, Lonny ~

Regardless of whether you have hidden files & folders on or off, or protected operating system files hidden or not, the real index.dats in Content.IE5, user, cookies, and history will remain hidden.

Proper deletion & rebuilding of these files can be accomplished through DOS or Spider v1.16.

Please peruse my previous posts earlier in this very same thread.

 

Hi Lonny,

I found out that if right-click the content.ie5 folder, select Find
then type in index.dat, it appears in the Find window:

Location: C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5
index.dat modified 4/20/2003 1,680 KB.

Then if I r-click the index.dat file in the Find window and check properties it shows:
size: 1.64 MB (1,720,320 bytes) Thanks for giving me the idea Lonny

Thanks also for the other information you posted about moving the TIF folder location ...which results in a new index.dat of 32.0kb, and the link to the mskb article q301057:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q301057
"Temporary Internet Files Use More Disk Space Than Specified"

The mskb article has instructions to fix another problem ( Temporary Internet Files folder uses more disk space than specified):
=======copy/paste==========
1. In either My Computer or Windows Explorer, create a new folder.
2. In Internet Explorer, click Internet Options on the Tools menu.
3. On the General tab, click Settings under Temporary Internet Files.
4. In the Settings dialog box, click Move Folder under Temporary Internet Files folder.
5. Click the folder that you created in step 1, and then click OK.
6. If you are prompted to log off, click Yes, and then log on to Windows again. If you are not prompted to log off, click OK to close all of the dialog boxes.
7. In either My Computer or Windows Explorer, delete the old Temporary Internet Files folder, and then create a new folder in the same location with the same name.
8. Repeat steps two through six again, but in step five, click to select the new folder that you created in step seven.
===========end c/p=============

I decided to try using Microsoft's instructions and see what would happen, but before that I did a group.google search and found the following:

From: Colin Taylor (colintaylor@bigpond.com)
Subject: Error in Work Around for Knowledge Base Article - Q301057
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress
Date: 2002-09-04 10:48:06 PST

There is an error in Knowledge Base Article -
Q301057 'Temporary Internet Files Use More Disk Space Than Specified'
The instruction in step 7 of the article; "...delete the old Temporary Internet Files folder,..." cannot be
performed, since after performing steps 1 thru 6, there is
no longer present an 'old' folder to delete. (snip)
===========end c/p=============

So... this is what I did:

I created a new folder in C:\ named IECACHE.
Then I went to Internet Options, Settings, and clicked "Move Folder ".
I selected the C:\Iecache folder. I OKed it, and rebooted Windows when prompted.

After Windows restarted I discovered that the C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files folder was now gone (as Colin Taylor pointed out). I now had a new C:\Iecache\Temporary Internet Files folder. The index.dat inside the Content.IE5 folder was now 32.0 KB, creation date today.

I then went back to Internet Options, Settings, "Move Folder" and selected the C:\Windows folder.

After a reboot my Temporary Internet Files were back in the original location, C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files, with Content.IE5\index.dat showing as 32.0 KB!

PS:
What's more, the ms-dos name is now tempor~1, not ~2 as it was before.

Thanks a bunch Lonny!

 

Hi

Im glad you decided to research first, and to put TIF back in original spot to--- if I hadnt there would have been problems
becouse the connection servise I use --uses a form of netscape
that uses IE and its temp folder >>GEEE<<

I found the best way to move TIF was to make a folder on the desktop called Temporary Inernet Files, with internet options move it there--you get one folder ,, create another within the windows directory and then move again,, rebooting each time as prompted. Dont know if that had any effect compaired to say the way you did it.. did my best to fallow MS KB's instructions

Yes that MS KB was definetly confusing and completly wrong
written for to many versions and ver of OS'sss.


" " "I found out that if right-click the content.ie5 folder, select Find
then type in index.dat, it appears in the Find window: " "" "

Strange we cant see either until searching from tif folder--
Normal I think...
Guess I was thinking on some OS's people cant search for hidden files or folders unless they are marked first to have been shown-(and be able to find)--not revelent in this case with tif
=====
On another note:
My whole point being and the reason for butting in on this post,
it would be dangerouse for people such as me to delete anything from a command prompt,,, By the way what is dos >DU<
what is minumal boot to cammand prompt anyway,,
PS I dont want to know.

I dont mean to deverge from the tried and true way,
But I dont feel safe doing it that way---without first finding the exact path and all--..

Another subject still:
Any way found another neat mmm addon yesterday
properties plus
Modify file attributes with ease
PropertiesPlus
OS: Windows95/98/Me/NT4.0/2000/XP License: Free

" "" "" "" "" "" "
PropertiesPlus is compatible with Windows XP except for support of XP visual style.

Main Features:
PropertiesPlus is a free add-on for your Windows Explorer. It adds additional functionality to your right-click menu under the menu option PropertiesPlus. Here you'll be able to modify file attributes, file extensions, and the time stamps of single files, multiple files, or files contained within the folders. Display the bytes allocated. This program is simple to install and easy to use. If you frequently require more control over your files than that allowed by the base Windows application, PropertiesPlus will allow you considerable flexibility.
" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hotlinks.htm
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/cool/kish/pplusmain.htm

But you pros probaly have no use for it ?

Lonny

 

Normal, I guess... because the TIF is ANYTHING BUT a normal folder. "Smoke and mirrors" is how one ms mvp describes it. The files you "see" when you open \Temporary Internet Files\ in Windows Explorer aren't really there. What you "see" is a reflection of the files that are actually located in the sub-directories of Content.IE5 (the "alpha-numeric" named folders) and "pointers" to cookie files located elsewhere The only "real" files inside Content.IE5 are the ones you CAN't see in Windows Explorer, index.dat and desktop.ini.

I rarely create desktop folders. I prefer to create new folders in C:\ - all my personal files and folders are subfolders of C:\Alice!

In moving the TIF, I found that you just need to select a "parent" folder. Windows will automatically create the subfolder "Temporary Internet Files ". That's why, once I had the TIF moved the first time, and the C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files folder had disappeared, I just had to go back into Internet Options, Settings, "Move Folder" and select the Windows folder. Windows then created the "Temporary Internet Files" subfolder.

I know you don't want to know

MINIMAL BOOT (I GATHER) IS ONE OF THE BOOT OPTIONS WHEN YOU START UP WITH YOUR EMERGENCY STARTUP DISK!

You still have the ms-dos prompt, don't you? Look in Programs\Accessories. Here is how to check out the "real" contents of content.ie5, using the DIR /a command:

This is a c/p of my ms-dos prompt window:

================copy/paste=================

C:\WINDOWS>cd C:\WINDOWS\Tempor~1\Content.IE5

C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5>dir /a

Volume in drive C is HARD DISK
Volume Serial Number is 246E-14CE
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5

. <DIR> 04-20-03 7:34p .
.. <DIR> 04-20-03 7:34p ..
INDEX DAT 245,760 04-20-03 10:42p index.dat
DESKTOP INI 67 04-20-03 7:34p desktop.ini
C78RYZ0D <DIR> 04-20-03 7:34p C78RYZ0D
CTQX4JGB <DIR> 04-20-03 7:34p CTQX4JGB
IVU1SD2J <DIR> 04-20-03 7:34p IVU1SD2J
R45AL32F <DIR> 04-20-03 7:34p R45AL32F
2 file(s) 245,827 bytes

I tend to stay away from third-party tweaking programs, Explorer add-ons, IEtoolbars, stuff like that.

PS Just wanted to add..... I hope/guess you realize that the MS-Dos prompt "dos window" is not "true" dos, and you can't deltree the tempor~1 from a dos window

 

C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5>dir /a

Volume in drive C is HP_PAVILION
Volume Serial Number is 2430-17FB
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5

. <DIR> 04-10-03 2:21p .
.. <DIR> 04-10-03 2:21p ..
INDEX DAT 966,656 04-20-03 10:29p index.dat
DESKTOP INI 67 04-19-03 11:42p desktop.ini
T66OFC1L <DIR> 04-20-03 3:33a T66OFC1L
QVA9M3YZ <DIR> 04-20-03 3:33a QVA9M3YZ
01KLSBID <DIR> 04-20-03 3:34a 01KLSBID
AFO3G707 <DIR> 04-20-03 3:34a AFO3G707
2 file(s) 966,723 bytes
6 dir(s) 16,669.02 MB free
==============================================

Didnt know I could do that, Yes I understand not to try clearing tif from within windows

I agree -----But cant help myself sometimes,,,, to often
trying differant addons and so called improvements is what brought me here looking for help to begin with--not long ago
Good thing I have system restore..and sometimes enjoy fixing
things,,------------------------------------------------------sometimes.

Since this post "Quote" is so ripe i'll ask just one more thing..

How come you havent tweaked win 95 to accept and run IE 6
suppose you wouldn't want to ?

Lonny

 

I don't understand the controversy here!

OK! In win95, 98 and ME the best way to kill the index.dat is to do it from native DOS while cleaning up the temps also.

Paste the following into a batch file named cleanup.bat!


; begin of batch
@echo off
del c:\*.swp
del c:\windows\*.swp
deltree /y c:\windows\shelli*.*
deltree /y c:\windows\temp\*.*
deltree /y c:\windows\tempor~1\*.*
deltree /y c:\windows\history\*.*
deltree /y c:\windows\spool\printers\*.*

; to remove the cookies and index.dat, remove the ; at beginning of line
; deltree c:\windows\cookies\*.*

; so remove the ; on the line you want and put it on the one you don't want to run

; or if you want to preserve the cookies but del the index.dat
deltree c:\windows\cookies\index.dat
;end of batch

Now this batch can be run from windows or dos and it will delete all that is not protected by windows.

But there is an easy way to do this from windows also.

So do the following to find all the index.dats
command prompt
type
attrib index.dat /s
This will find all the index.dats and some you may have not known about.

Now from windows command prompt run the above batch or type each command in individually.

Now do the attrib search again, some or all still there huh!

Now do this

hit ctrl alt del and end explorer, it will go to a shutdown dialog, click cancel. Hit ctrl alt del again explorer will be gone or it will then give you an "End process message" so click end process.

Now run the batch again, then do the attrib search. Wa La you have just cleaned index.dats from windows while windows is still up. Who said it couldn't be done!

So the key is Explorer as long as explorer is up you can not do it.

SPECIAL notice. This should be done as the first thing after a fresh reboot and since you killed explorer you should reboot afterwards.

So I have just shown you how to do it in windows, why is dos better? Well too many steps here.

But if you are afraid of dos then here is your answer!

Additionally for those with 2K and XP to do the same all you need to is do the cleanup, no need to end explorer but it will not clean up the loged on user so log off and log on as a different user and it will get the other one.

mike

Can we close this thread now!!! Lol!

 

Are you kidding? Mozilla 1.0.1 is my main browser right now... the Mozilla cache and history clears easily in Windows, using my own batch file or just from Windows explorer. hubby is the one who likes IE. I just "maintain" it.


Hi Mike!

Don't be a spoilsport! I would use native Dos if I have to but the "experiment" to rebuild the TIF while in Windows was fun! Lonny did come up with a good trick, and I'm sure lots of WinMe folks appreciate not having to use a startup disk to clear to TIF and index.dat.

On running your cleanup.bat in windows after "ending task" on Explorer, I'll leave that one for someone else to try

I really had no need to clear my TIF in the first place, since IE was not giving me problems.

 

Hey Guys

I was just kidding about closing the thread....

Gooodnessss.......

Take joke!!!!!!!!!!!

Smile.

Mike