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.