I found in a previous posting that dos can be used to get rid of idx files . Can anybody please tell me in simple language how to get rid of them, dos sounds a bit scary to me.
Many thanks

Hi Bill,

Yes, you can delete idx or any other file with DOS if you can get at it.

Your heading says you're using XP, so you don't have DOS unless you boot in DOS. {With a DOS / XP multi-boot or a DOS boot floppy or CD.]

You can do some deleting at a CMD prompt in XP, which is maybe where you're headed with this.

BUT

idx files will often be associated with the cache. So deleting them may make things go pear shaped.

A smoother move would be to empty the cache from within your browser or other app.

HTH

M2

Thanks, I just wish I new more about PCs Most of it is `double dutch` to me.
I have had about a thousand or more of these in My Documents for some months now My desk top was also full of them but managed to replace them with photo files etc which I thought very clever of me! Means I have no gaps on the desk top and must be unique.
Dosnt sound as though there is a simple solution.

As Adrian Cronauer would say, you lost me there at the end.

You lost me when you started replacing idx files with photos.

But if gets you through the night, go for it.

M2

If you're accumulating mystery files in Windows, you'd be better off seeking a Windows solution.

Unlike most older Winversions, XP does not run on top of DOS - just the opposite - so there may be no real advantage to using the built-in command line, and several impediments to using a true DOS bootdisk

I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

Quite agree NT Command Prompt is and always
will be not as useful as MSDOS Command
Prompt, but XP has no true MSDOS, therefore it is
better to post in the XP forum and seek an
XP software solution

hi there,

im trying ot help out a friend. she has thousands of idx files in her my documents folder. what are they, where do they come from and can i safely delete them or will it screw something up?

i saw earlier that they are related to the cache but what program creates them, or is it a setting somewhere that has been incorrectly set?

any help with this will be greatly apprceated.

The following web page worked for me. The IDX files were placed on the desktop under OS 98 recently. I just upgraded to XP and they were still there, but easily removed per Jack's instructions.

blogs.guardian.co.uk/askjack/2005/10/removing_unwanted_files.htm