M$ systems index.dat file, what do they do?

[Jolt2]

Besides the question of what do they do, how do you clear them out in XP? Is the index.dat file more spy ware built in by M$?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Jolt2
Besides the question of what do they do, how do you clear them out in XP?

I presume your refering to the index.dat in the TIF folders? You don't, the index holds information to allow the cache to function. If you do delete them, they will simply be recreated.

Is the index.dat file more spy ware built in by M$?

Bill

 

[Jolt2]

If the index.dat files are used for cache functions, then why are they not cleared out when you delete the temporany internet files or restart your computer? These files just keep building up information in them and keep getting bigger and bigger as you use IE. Information about what site I was at a year ago does not have anything to do with my cache functions today.

I know the files will be recreated at startup if they do not exsist. I'd just like to keep my computer clean and lean. In Win9X, you can start up in DOS and delete the index.dat files to clean them out but how would you delete them in XP?

 

[bsobel]

If the index.dat files are used for cache functions, then why are they not cleared out when you delete the temporany internet files or restart your computer?

Because you don't understand how the cache works. IE marks entries in the index.dat is deleted but doesn't actually 'clear' the data for speed. Much like you can delete a file from your harddrive but it's not 'really' gone until you overwrite it. The files shouldn't keep 'building up', they should reach a normal size and then overwrite older information with newer.

I'd just like to keep my computer clean and lean.

Your just slowing down IE as it has to recreate the cache each time.

Bill

 

[stevewm]

If you clear IE's cache from the Internet Options control panel these index.dat files will cleared on reboot as well.... If you delete the files manualy IE will not clear out their entires until your cache reaches the MAX size you have set in the Internet Options control panel.

These index.dat files are not spyware or anything else. They are simply part of IE's caching works. If you open index.dat in a text editor you'll see some filenames that are in the TIF folder along with a webpage's actual URL listed right next to it. You can see where I'm going here.... Its IE's way of linking files in your cache with the actual page/HTML file they are called from.

If you clear your cache the right way (clicking the Delete Files button and Clear History button in IE's options) the index.dat files will be kept clear...