I have been reading a few posts where people are trying to clean the cookies, temporary internet files, & history files including index.dat files. Here's a a batch script I wrote that will do everything in 2 or 3 minutes. This script is for Win 98 users. Open notepad and paste the following into it and save it as c:\clean.bat ----Begin copy below this line REM ****************************************** REM This section removes temp internet files, cookies & index.dax files Echo Preparing to remove Index.dat and other junk files from your system!! Echo. Echo Removing History files from system, Please wait! DELTREE /y c:\windows\history\*.* > NUL Echo History files removed! Echo Removing Temporary Internet Files from system, Please wait! DELTREE /y c:\windows\tempor~1\*.* > NUL DELTREE /y c:\windows\temp\*.* > NUL Echo Temporary Internet Files removed! Echo Removing Cookie files from system, Please wait! DELTREE /y c:\windows\cookies\*.* > NUL Echo Cookies are removed from system! Echo Removing other junk files from system, Please wait! DELTREE /y c:\windows\applic~1\micros~1\office\recent\*.* > NUL DELTREE /y c:\windows\ShellIconCache DELTREE /y c:\windows\recent\*.* > NUL if exist del c:\windows\ff*.tmp if exist del c:\windows\system\advert.dll Echo Operation Completed! REM ***************************************** Echo. Echo. Echo Reboot you computer now!!!!!! Boot to DOS using F8 or a boot disk, besure you are at C:\> type clean & hit enter Easy as that!!!!!!!!

A script such as that posted can obviously be useful but in the end it is always worth checking the steps to make sure you have happy with what is being deleted. For example, in my case (and that of many others) the rebuild of Shelliconcache when you restart is to say the least "shaky". Some machines seem to require trickery in order to get that file to rebuild, or in some cases even re-appear. I must admit I have some difficulty understanding why that feel needs deleting at all. So, you choose the lines you want and don't incorporate any that would cause you promblems. Nice effort though, particularly useful for those who's DOS is a little rusty or non-existent. One question (excuse my ignorance), what does the > NUL do?

I would also recommend not including the deletion of Shelliconcache because it takes too much effort to rebuild it. I have been playing around with the Shelliconcache a lot lately and now have it just like I want it. A better fix for the Shelliconcache is to locate it and take a look at the size of it(mine is at 1,334kb) . The default Max size is 500kb so everytime I startup and open any folder with a non-system icon in it, it has to build the icons making everything slower than it needs to be. Increasing the Max Cached Icons size within the registry to a greater amount than the file size will make it so all of the icons are stored. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer In the right hand pane create a new string value named "Max Cached Icons" without the quotes by right clicking in the right hand pane and selecting New. Then right click on Max Cached Icons to modify it to a value of 2048 (for mine). Optional values: 1024 4096 8192 If mine grows more than 2048 then I will increase it again. After changing my settings I opened every file and folder I could find that contained icons. They are stored now and all folders open as fast as they are going to. The Shelliconcache is to icons like the TIF is to IE. Sometimes the Shelliconcache can be become corrupted; in that case it is good to delete it. I have done that to find that I had to reboot twice to get it to rebuild. What I found later is that it was not corrupt; it was just too small to handle the amount of icons I have. The best part of the .bat is the deltree TIF. Everything else I like to manage manually. Thanks for the input, Bryan

> NUL redirects any message that would otherwise appear on the screen to a "nul [non-existent] file," i.e., it goes nowhere. Some people like to see what's going on; others like a program to just do its job without a whole lot of screen clutter.

I was told (and it is supposed to be in the MS KB) that if you create user profiles, there are more INDEX.DAT's. I don't have any profiles and the above BAT would work for me - but many people do. I would also alter the code for myself, rather than mass delete everything included. But nice effort - should help many.

Hi Bryco, thank you for the tip about ShellIconCache. I had read something about it in axcel216 tips http://members.aol.com/axcel216/ , probably the best tips list for all Windows versions. There is a little difference between you and Axcel's explanation, you speak about size and he speaks about number of icons. Here is MSKb point of view : http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q132/6/68.asp Sorry for the basic English. Pierre.

pgriffet, That is very interesting as the MS article does not state it but I suspect it too is referring to amounts of icons versus the file size. "If the icons are still incorrect, delete the ShellIconCache file. The Max Cached Icons value data range is between 100 and 4094. The default value is 500." I now wonder if it is possible to determine how many icons are on a particular PC. On my work PC (where I am right now) it alledgedly contains 72 icons using Find *.ico with nothing hidden but I know for certain that there are many more. I will have to look into to this more now. Thanks, Bryan