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How do you delete internet sites and files from you computer so that they can not be recovered forever?
Alex,
You must delete the index.dat file in Windows.
This can be accomplished by using a disk cleaner program.
You can also delete the index.dat file manually from Real-Dos Mode.
Windows will re-create the file upon starting Windows however, it will be empty.Mesich
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Have you went to your windows/Temp Internet Files directory.....
Go to your cookies folder from your windows folder...delete all thats in there except your index.dat file, go to history, delete all thats in there, then go to Temp Internet Files....delete all the files in there., then just make sure to go to your Recyle Bin and delete from there...
does that help or are you looking for even more than that??
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I know how to do that but I want to get it off my PC for good. How do I delete the contents of the index.dat in DOS mode? Where do I find that file and how do I delete it?
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Alex,
Start>Find>Files or Folders. Type index.dat
in named. Select Find Now Tab.Note the locations of the index.dat files.
Start>Programs>MS-DOS Prompt
At C:\Windows> Type del and the path of the index.dat file.
EX.
C:\Windows>del C:\windows\cookies\index.datMesich
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Thanks for the help. What is in this index.dat file, is that where all internet information is stored?
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Renaissance Man:
There you are.....Just wanted to say thanks for the batch file. Pretty cool! :~)Solo
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That's great advice from most respondants.
I've used Evidence Eliminator for a couple of years and a free version was recently on the cover disk of PCPro. It can be customised to run through a complete cleaning cycle that automatically removes the index.dat, history.dat and cookies files on shutdown, it will even overwrite the blank space on your hard-drive to be absolutely sure everything is gone.
However I've just discovered a lot of information sitting in my windows 'user.dat' file, particularly relating to the auto-completion of words typed in IE6.
Can anyone suggest a safe way of removing this file as there is a lot of useful information in there as well.
Expert help would be appreciated.
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Maybe this will be simpler:
Enter DOS.
At the command prompt, type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each command, and pressing Y if you are prompted to confirm folder deletion:
cd\windows
deltree cookies
deltree history
deltree tempor~1
exitNOTE: Be very careful, DO NOT deltree the Windows directory, make sure the prompts looks like this:
C:\WINDOWS\Cookies>
C:\WINDOWS\History>
C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files>
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(Renaissance Man)(ot)
(Email me - if you get the chance - have a) (question about your batch.)
Alex and anyone that wants to completely
eliminate cookies/tif/history from coming in.Index.dat is a small "database" file. The more you travel the net, the bigger it gets.
They start around 32K. Windows always makes new ones, if you delete the old plump ones.I found this on the net years ago - sorry, I
no longer know who to give credit to (I believe a gentleman in Canada). I call it the
"cookie trick".You trick Explorer and Windows into thinking they are sending the above stuff to index.dat, the database file. Instead they all go off into "etherland". You will need some DOS experience to work this out. There are 4 key locations involved (where index.dat exists).
C:\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\CONTENT,IE5\index.dat
C:\WINDOWS\COOKIES\index.dat
C:\WINDOWS\APPIC~1\MICROS~1\INTERN~1\USERDATA\index.dat
C:\WINDOWS\HISTORY\HISTORY.IE5\index.datIn all those locations you erase index.dat.
Then you create sub-directories there with the name "index.dat"This will prevent ANY of that stuff from coming in. However, you must realize, if you want a cookie or two - say settings for MyComputing.Net - you won't be able to keep them.
Renaissance Man
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Alfienumeric
Reguarding 'user.dat'; DO NOT just delete this file, it holds your user settings as part of your registry.
Windows registry is contained in the files 'user.dat' and 'system.dat', without this registry info and settings, windows WILL NOT WORK.Use regedit.exe if you must playwith and edit registry info or settings, BUT, remember to back it up FIRST, in case there's problems from your edits.
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My apologies to RM - that "signature"
"Renaissance Man" man was not supposed to
appear at the bottom. Response #11Should have been sekirt.
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sekirt, re: response #11--
I've seen that "solution" on the web before. I tried it, and it doesn't work on my system.
I also tried deleting all the content of index.dat files (making them 0 byte files) and setting the read-only attribute. That doesn't work either, at least not on my system.
When you restart Windows, all index.dat files are recreated at 16 or 32KB.
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I can only vouch for
Win 3.11/ IE3
and
Win 98se / IE6It is critical the sub-directories are created in the right places.
I removed mine some time ago, because I wanted to let some stuff come in. But they
did work when I tried. Maybe some condition that I am not aware of exists that prevents it from working on some systems.
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There is a program to be rid of these files forever!
http://www.freewarefiles.com
Download Subvenge 2.0 !
That war against index.dat is over folks!!!
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