Shocking! Be careful when index. dat leaks your online traces

Author: Feng Xiaomin

Wang MM has been bored recently. It is said that someone has learned her usual website by peeking at her computer. "I cleared temporary IE files, cookies, and history every time I went offline. I didn't even go through the IE Address Bar drop-down list! How do they know ?" Wang MM looked frustrated.

 
 

 
 
In fact, the culprit for leaking Wang MM's Internet presence is the index. dat file on the computer. Today we will fix it.

What is index. dat always doing?

Index. dat is a file with the "hidden" attribute. It records the URL, access time, and history accessed through a browser. In fact, it is a copy that stores cookies, history records, and content recorded in IE temporary files. Even if you clear all the content in IE, index. the records in the dat file still exist.

In Windows XP, "Documents and Settings \ Cookies" and "Docum"

Ents and Settings \ Local Settin

GsHistoryHistory. IE5 "," events and Se

Ttings \ Local Internet FilesCont

The index. dat file exists in the folder such as ent. IE5.

The system will not let you directly see the index of these places for confidentiality. even if you set the folder option to show all the files to the system and do not hide files protected by the operating system, you cannot find them. You can try to enter the Temporary IE folder "Temporary Internet Files", but manually add "Content. IE5 ", you can find that there are other files and folders, index. the dat file is also one of them (1 ).

Figure 1

When we browse a large number of websites, the size of this file will increase from dozens of KB to dozens of MB.

Even if you perform operations such as "delete offline files", "Clear history", and "clear forms" in IE, the index. dat file in the preceding position will not be deleted. What's even more annoying is that if you try to manually delete the file from the above location, the system will warn you "Cannot delete the index: the file is being used by another person or program ." Who is using this file? The answer is the system itself. Even if you restart the system without opening any program window, you cannot delete it in the conventional way.

Snoop your online record

As mentioned above, even if the related cleaning operation is executed in IE, index. the dat file also contains the relevant URL Information. How can I use this file to learn about the websites I have visited?

To view the content in index. dat, we can implement it with third-party software, such as INDEX. DAT File Viewer (: http://www.sharewareriver.com/download.php? Id = 1195 ).

After the software is started, after several seconds of retrieval, it has displayed the previous browsing records in the window-the URL, access time, and other information are listed in (2 ). Select a link and the relevant content will be displayed in the lower right corner of the window! Wang MM's Internet browsing interests are noticed in this way.

Figure 2

　　Clear "content" in index. dat"

This index is likely to leak personal online behavior habits. the dat file cannot be deleted directly, because as long as you log on to the system, the file under your account will be used by the system. So, is it really impossible to get rid of it? None! Two methods are provided here.

Method 1: Delete in pure DOS mode

If your Windows XP is installed in the FAT32 partition, you can use the boot disc to boot the system to the pure DOS mode (not the Windows XP Command Prompt window), and then enter the index. in the directory where dat is located, use the DEL command to delete it. However, this file is messy and messy (Note: C: Documents and Settings are long file names, therefore, you must convert the format to 8.3 to enter the directory normally ).

Method 2: Use Tracks Eraser Pro to delete

Manually entering the folders to "kill" the index. dat file is definitely troublesome. Besides, it would be even harder if the system is not installed in the FAT32 partition. The simplest way is to use specialized software to complete this "Arduous Task ".

Although the index can be deleted. there are many dat software. However, after many tests, I found that the index can be effectively deleted. the software recorded in dat is still Tracks Eraser Pro (: http://www.acesoft.net/te5.exe), many other software are somewhat exaggerated, after the execution is cleared, use the aforementioned "INDEX. "DAT File Viewer" can still see previously visited URLs.

In Tracks Eraser Pro, click the "Eraser Settings" button to set it. The focus is to check the project Settings under the IE tab (preferably select all). In particular, make sure that "index" is checked. dat ".

Click "OK" and return to the main interface. Click "Erase Now. Soon, the software will clean up your online traces Based on the settings.

After cleaning, try again: re-open INDEX. DAT File Viewer to enable it to automatically scan. As a result, the software was busy for a long time and nothing was listed in the window. You can feel at ease with the previous cleanup!