What are Index.dat files?

Index.dat files are essential for Internet Explorer web browser worked properly. Actually, they are active data base – a storage. Index.dat Files keep information about every site you visited, cookie files, keywords you typed in search engines, and also material about Cache located on your computer hard disk.

Why does IE need Index.dat Files except for Cache?

Whenever you visit any web site in the Internet, Internet address, time of attendance, images, tracking cookies, scripts and other web page's contents are being stored on your computer. The reason why IE does it is that next time when you visit the same page you won't spend time waiting for the page loading.
Since Temporary Internet Files (Browser Cache) can occupy a lot of space, the need to index them appeared. By means of Index.dat Files, Internet Explorer immediately finds required files on your hard drive, compares them with the ones that are on the site you visit, and displays the newest ones. But for the Index.dat Files, IE had to spend a great amount of time to search and analyze Temporary Internet Files at every visit of a web page.

Beware! Index.dat Files jeopardize your privacy!

There are two sides of the medal! From the one side, Index.dat Files are very helpful since they save our time. From the other side, they hold information about the way you spend your time in the Internet. Perhaps, you wouldn't like anyone to know what sites you visit, what images or videos you view and who you communicate online with. Index.dat Files are files that jeopardize your privacy to the utmost.

How to examine the contents of Index.dat Files

You probably think that if you regularly clean Internet history then you clean Index.dat Files as well. But it's a wrong belief! Index.dat Files are cleaned with another technique regardless of your actions. You have to remember that even if you think that everything is deleted anyone can view your Internet activity in details by means of easy-to-use tools.

How to delete Index.dat Files

Unfortunately, Index.dat files can't be deleted by common means using the bin, even if you find them in hidden folders. Windows will block your actions since Index.dat Files are protected system files. You have to choose special tool to delete them.

What do I have to do if I cannot delete Index.dat Files manually?

There are plenty of tools capable to delete Index.dat Files. However, it does not mean that every tool will suit you. Many of them delete these files incorrectly and later it causes problems when you work with Internet Explorer. For example, browser starts to slow down, sometimes it even does not start at all, or after several attempts can shut down spontaneously and close all the windows.

Location

Index.dat are files hidden on your computer that contain all of the Web sites that you have ever visited. Every URL, and every Web page is listed there. Not only that but all of the email that has been sent or received through Outlook or Outlook Express is also being logged. The file names and locations depend on what version of Internet Explorer you have. If you are running IE version 4.0 or above, the file name is "index.dat". Microsoft has not supplied an adequate explanation as to what these files are for or why they have been hidden so well.

According to Microsoft, these files are used to cache visited Web sites to help speed up the loading of Web pages in Internet Explorer. Obviously this cannot be the case because when you clear the Temporary Internet Files the "index.dat" files remain behind and continue to grow. If you delete or clear the Temporary Internet Files, there is absolutely no need to index the URL cache because those files no longer exist.

On a Windows 9x computer these files are located in the following locations:

  • WINDOWS\Cookies\index.dat
  • WINDOWS\History\index.dat
  • WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\index.dat
  • WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\index.dat

In Windows 2000 and Windows XP there are several "index.dat" files in these locations:

  • Documents and Settings\Username\Cookies\index.dat
  • Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\index.dat
  • Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\MSHist012001123120020101\index.dat
  • Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\MSHist012002010720020114\index.dat
  • Documents and Settings\Username\Local Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat

Index.dat files can be very hard to find. If you are in Windows, even with "Show hidden files and folders" enabled, index.dat files are not visible and cannot be found if you do a search for index.dat files. The reason that these files are so invisible is that they are not just hidden, they have been designated as "system" files. System files and folders are treated differently in DOS and Windows and are effectively cloaked from casual searches.

What shall I do?

Use Clean Space software! This tool at first protects Index.dat Files, and then records new and initial Index.dat Files over empty clusters. This method allows to avoid errors in browser operating and will not permit your ill-wishers to restore Index.dat files in future. Moreover! Using Clean Space you'll get many advantages since this tool cleans not only Index.dat Files but also hundreds of other files, folders, registry keys that can jeopardize your online privacy. Clean Space was created specially for you could hide you Internet activity from any person who has access to your computer either at home or at work.


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