Is there a way to clear what is in index.dat?

[cable]

I know that the file could never be deleted but I was told there was a way to clear what was inside it.

thanks.

[Jeff the Brit]

Spider

[Votan]

I know that the file could never be deleted but I was told there was a way to clear what was inside it.

thanks.

This is how I do it with ME: I created this batch file:

@echo off
edit c:\windows\cookies\index.dat
edit c:\windows\history\history.ie5\index.dat
edit c:\windows\tempor~1\content.ie5\index.dat

I use startup disk and I boot to DOS. Minumum options is sufficient. Then I run the batch file.

When the first file open, I select all, then delete, then save and exit. The next file opens, I repeat the same, and again with the third file. When I am done, I am back to DOS. Reboot with Windows.

[Gabriel]

...I select all, then delete, then save and exit. The next file opens, I repeat the same, and again with the third file. When I am done, I am back to DOS. Reboot with Windows.

Why not using like this
copy nothing.txt c:\windows\cookies\index.dat
copy nothing.txt c:\windows\history\history.ie5\index.dat
copy nothing.txt c:\windows\tempor~1\content.ie5\index.dat

* Nothing.txt is just a file with nothing in it...

It's Just a thought - only a thought...
Gabriel

[Votan]

Why not using like this
copy nothing.txt c:\windows\cookies\index.dat
copy nothing.txt c:\windows\history\history.ie5\index.dat
copy nothing.txt c:\windows\tempor~1\content.ie5\index.dat

* Nothing.txt is just a file with nothing in it...

It's Just a thought - only a thought...
Gabriel

Good idea.

[Votan]

Why not using like this
copy nothing.txt c:\windows\cookies\index.dat
copy nothing.txt c:\windows\history\history.ie5\index.dat
copy nothing.txt c:\windows\tempor~1\content.ie5\index.dat

* Nothing.txt is just a file with nothing in it...

It's Just a thought - only a thought...
Gabriel

At first I thought your recipe is a good idea. Well it turned out sort of. The effect of COPY is to delete the index files whether the file to copy is .txt or .dat it makes no difference. I modified my clear.bat file to del instead of edit. After deleting I reboot, windows creates fresh index.dat file.

.

[Gabriel]

...I modified my clear.bat file to del instead of edit. After deleting I reboot, windows creates fresh index.dat file.
.

Thats even better

Gabriel

[NEPATEC]

Another (and much more permanent) way to accomplish this is to do a search for all index.dat -and- msimgsiz.dat files on the drive, write down the path to each location, then shut down Windows, boot up from a floppy & delete each instance of these files. Then, from DOS, create a new directory named "index.dat" and "msimgsiz.dat" in the locations where these files once resided.

for example:

MD INDEX.DAT <Enter>
MD MSIMGSIZ.DAT <Enter>

Since you cannot have two files (or a file and a directory) of the same name in the same parent directory, Windows will not be able to re-create these files upon the next boot. Pop the diskette out of your floppy drive, restart the computer, and then boot to Windows and re-initiate a search for index.dat -and- msimgsiz.dat.

If you performed the above steps correctly, you will note that you now have directories named "index.dat" and "msimgsiz.dat" everywhere you used to have files of that name. Set the attributes for all instances of these new directories to +H +R.

This will effectively cover your tracks, since IE and/or Windows cannot write to these 'files' anymore.

-mike

[melee5]

Votan - Don't give up. If you make a 32k file of zeros and copy that over the top of Cookies\index.dat file at bootup Windows will adopt it rather than just recreate a new index.dat file which BTW is made up from your old index.dat file complete with partial urls. Adopted blank index.dat is of course blank with NO url strings contained there in. Copy index.dat to a new location in Windows to use a hex editor on it to confirm this. This all doesn't work well when you have cookies in the Cookies folder and just replace index.dat, so I deltree the folder and make a new Cookies folder then copy the blank index.dat file there.