How is it possible that IE has logged my offline activity?

[chrstrbrts]

Hello,

My OS is Windows 7.

The other day, I checked IE's web history just for kicks.

I had not been using IE for browsing, but I had not disabled it in Control Panel (as far as I know, you can't uninstall IE).

I didn't see any URLs listed, but I did see a log of almost every PDF I had read over the past few months.

That is, instead of URLs, file system directories where my PDFs are stored were listed.

How is this possible?

I don't like the idea of software surreptitiously tracking my activities (I know that that is unavoidable nowadays, but still).

I've since cleared the history and disabled IE in control panel.

Though, I'd still like to know how IE managed to log my activities and whether the same thing can happen despite IE being disabled.

Thanks.

 

[Dude111]

Do you delete your TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES after every session,that might get rid of those.............

I try to always delete the "Temporary internet files" folder everyday just so it stays clear or URLs,etc.............


Good luck

 

[KillerBee]

Hello,

My OS is Windows 7.

The other day, I checked IE's web history just for kicks.

I had not been using IE for browsing, but I had not disabled it in Control Panel (as far as I know, you can't uninstall IE).

I didn't see any URLs listed, but I did see a log of almost every PDF I had read over the past few months.

That is, instead of URLs, file system directories where my PDFs are stored were listed.

How is this possible?

I don't like the idea of software surreptitiously tracking my activities (I know that that is unavoidable nowadays, but still).

I've since cleared the history and disabled IE in control panel.

Though, I'd still like to know how IE managed to log my activities and whether the same thing can happen despite IE being disabled.

Thanks.

Wow - I never use IE on Win7 either ..very surprised to see all the history it retains.
Guess it is integrated into Win7 more than I thought.

 

[Ketchup]

These are temporary files ON YOUR COMPUTER. Not on the Internet. The temp internet files folder is cached data from anything that is pulled up in IE. IE can open PDFs, so if you opened a PDF in IE, it will show up in this folder. You can turn off IE in the "turn Windows features on/off" section of Programs and Features.

 

[chrstrbrts]

Do you delete your TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES after every session.....

I delete the temp folder once a week or so.

I just looked into it, and the temporary internet files folder is not the same as the temp folder.

So, I guess I've never deleted the temporary internet files folder.

But that still doesn't explain how my PDF viewing history made its way into IE.

I looked in the temporary internet files folder and didn't see any mention of PDF files.

Guess it is integrated into Win7 more than I thought.

Indeed.

These are temporary files ON YOUR COMPUTER. Not on the Internet. The temp internet files folder is cached data from anything that is pulled up in IE.

I saw quite a few Chrome icons in the temporary internet files folder.

So, maybe all browsers use that folder, not just IE.

IE can open PDFs, so if you opened a PDF in IE, it will show up in this folder.

I used IE for nothing.

I usually read PDFs with Adobe software.

I saw no mention of PDFs in that folder.

You can turn off IE in the "turn Windows features on/off" section of Programs and Features.

Thanks, that's what I did.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

IE is integrated with Explorer, and logs local files you've opened as well. (Or rather, Explorer logs files you've opened in the same log area and format the IE logs URLs you've visited.)

You might be interested in a utility called "IEHistoryView" from nirsoft. Although there are CLI commands you can use to delete the history as well.

 

[chrstrbrts]

You might be interested in a utility called "IEHistoryView" from nirsoft. Although there are CLI commands you can use to delete the history as well.

I just used the GUI through IE to delete the info.

Then, I disabled IE in Control Panel.

Where is the folder that Explorer writes your history to?

 

[mikeymikec]

Interesting - I cleared IE's history, set the number of days to keep history for to zero, then opened two files in explorer (an mp3 and a spreadsheet). They've appeared in the history list.

Even uninstalling IE results in files going on its history list.

 

[chrstrbrts]

Even uninstalling IE results in files going on its history list.

By 'uninstalling' I assume you mean 'disabling'.

As far as I know, you can't uninstall IE.....or can you?

Anyway, how do you know this?

Did you disable IE first, then run your experiment, then re-enable IE and check the history?

 

[mikeymikec]

By 'uninstalling' I assume you mean 'disabling'.

As far as I know, you can't uninstall IE.....or can you?

Anyway, how do you know this?

Did you disable IE first, then run your experiment, then re-enable IE and check the history?

Correct conclusions all round.