How To Delete And Browse Index.dat Files In Windows

Index.dat files are Windows System files that records all websites that you visit from Internet Explorer. These hidden files contain all you web browser history saved in them. Index.dat does not only record all websites that are visited in Internet Explorer but also all the emails that are sent or received using Outlook or Outlook Express.

Microsoft says that Index.dat files contains all the web browsing record to speed up internet browsing through Internet Explorer when you visit these sites next time. These files remain untouched even if you delete all cookies and temporary files.
Here is a procedure to clean or delete all the information stored in Windows Index.dat files using free software. These software also work as Index.dat viewer and reader.

Index.dat Analyzer

This is to use in Windows XP only and lets you browse or delete Index.dat files which are stored on different locations in a Windows system.
Index.dat Analyzer has an easy to use interface to make it easy to browse through all Index.dat files (You can delete these files by pressing red cross button in a click).

Privacy Mantra

This free software is for both Windows XP and Vista. This software cleans all your computer activity tracks in Index.dat files. It cleans all private information stored like history, cookies, cache, index.dat, auto complete forms, recent accessed, run files, open/save dialoges etc.
You can use any of above program to delete all personal and private data and browsing history in Windows Index.dat files. You can even use them to browse through these files and delete the ones that you want to. You will get more free disk space by deleting these files and it is secure if you are sharing your computer with other users.

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Category: How To • Softwares • Windows Tips

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2 Responses to “How To Delete And Browse Index.dat Files In Windows”

  1. irfan says:
    March 9, 2009 at 4:56 pm

    Zabrdast :)

    Reply
  2. Cadavre says:
    September 29, 2009 at 10:38 pm

    To delete index.dat files. start your system in safe mode as administrator. Choose “Command Prompt without Networking”.

    Go to th C:\ root (cd\).

    Then type “erase index.dat /s”

    Should you get a message indicating that some of the files cannot be deleted you have some process running like Task Manager (Why Windows tracks Task Manager requests in an INDEX.DAT object is beyond me), or, you have some kind of exploit or logger that is blocking administrative access to INDEX.DAT).

    While in safe mode you may want to assure all your “deep” tmp, pf and cookies are deleted:
    erase *.tmp /s ** tmp files
    erase *.pf /s ** perf files
    erase *@*.txt /s ** cookies

    Defrag C: -F – forces a low level admin defrag

    You can also schedule a CHKDSK on startup:

    CHKDSK C: /f /r

    When you’ve finished, press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del] to open the Task Manager. Select “Shutdown” from the options menu.

    Reply

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