Thanks Wally,
Oddly enough when I looked in DOS there was no index.dat in Temporary
Internet File. the only thing that showed up was desktop.ini. There is one
under cookies and I can see that in windows. Weird.... any thoughts?

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 8:43 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: PCWorks: Cookie Copying


Mike:
        You have run into the strange way that windows handles
cookies. They are kept as files in the cookie folder and can
be deleted and copied with any file utility.  In this same
folder is an index.dat file which lists the cookies that have
been saved in the cookie folder even after they have been
deleted. This index file will keep growing with more additions
until it is deleted. It is a record of some of the sites the computer
has visited. It is an active file when windows is active and cannot
be accessed or deleted from windows.  If you boot to DOS
mode and go to the Cookies folder you can delete this file.
Windows will generate a new file containing only the cookie
files present when windows is booted. There will be no record
of the previous visits.

The index.dat file under Temporary Internet File is handled
differently. Using a file utility it shows as a file that cannot
be viewed or accessed while windows is active. When viewed
under Windows Explorer, all the indexed data in the file
are listed, including all sites that have been visited and the
cookies that were placed in the cookie folder.  If not
deleted this file can become huge. It can be deleted the same
as the one in the cookie folder. A new index.dat file will be
generated when Windows is next booted. Remember to use
dir /a       so that the hidden directories and files will show.

This should prevent snoopers from finding out where you
have been on the Internet.

Wally
============= PCWorks Mailing List =================
Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines &
make sure you've followed proper posting procedures,
http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm
Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com
=====================================================

Reply via email to