Index.dat Files Security Risk?

[8192]

Does anyone know what index.dat files are really for? And why they
can't be deleted when Windows is running?

From the information that I have read, index.dat files are used for
faster web page loading. But when I delete my index.dat files, there
is no speed difference in web page loading, so I believe these files
are being used for some other reason.

What really bothers me is that when deleting IE6 cache, cookies and
history using the IE6 toolbar, the index.dat files still remembers
everything. So, isn't this a security risk?

[sli]

8192 wrote:
> Does anyone know what index.dat files are really for? And why they
> can't be deleted when Windows is running?
>
> From the information that I have read, index.dat files are used for
> faster web page loading. But when I delete my index.dat files, there
> is no speed difference in web page loading, so I believe these files
> are being used for some other reason.
>
> What really bothers me is that when deleting IE6 cache, cookies and
> history using the IE6 toolbar, the index.dat files still remembers
> everything. So, isn't this a security risk?

Seems to me a privacy issue rather than security. They can grow to rather
large sizes but they're not hard to keep cleaned up. l like the free
Index.dat suite from http://www.it-mate.co.uk/support/idsuite.asp which
allows viewing them also.

[Kyle Thomas Pope]

On 9 Nov 2003 00:42:50 -0800, 8192@ny.com (8192) wrote:

>Does anyone know what index.dat files are really for? And why they
>can't be deleted when Windows is running?

They are a record of every web site IE has ever visited. They are in
use whenever Windows is running so they can't be deleted from within
Windows. They can grow to huge sizes consuming hard disk space. I
got rid of them by creating index.dat folders which prevents Windows
from recreating the files. So far I've experienced no ill effects
from this tactic.

BTW, I'm running Win98SE. I don't know how WinXP handles these files.

-----
Kyle Pope

"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered!" - No. 6

Keeper of the Edit List -

(http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/columns/edit-list.php)


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[Uncle Jean]

"Kyle Thomas Pope" told the uncle and all the others:

> They are a record of every web site IE has ever visited.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

On Windows 98 SE, these files contain a lot more than that:
information about NG's that you have visited, programs that
you have used, etc.

UJ

[sli]

Al Bundy wrote:
>
> I guess I don't understand how on Xp a W98se boot disk is going to
> allow me to access the C drive which is NTFS so I can use run.bat?
> Best I knew it only FAT16 & FAT32.
>
With xp it's simpler to use Internet Sweeper, from http://www.bmesite.com/
which automatically deletes index.dat files on re-boot. You can't view
them, though.