CCleaner.

[habari24]

I'm really overwhelmed by all the responses to my post #17. !! It is going to take me a while to absorb and consider all the varied advice given,some of which at first reading seems to be over my head, but I'll do my best.!! In the meantime, I want to express my thanks to DjLizard,Andavari,Tony Klein and noob 1 for your interest. How can my problem not be solved with all you helpful folk on my case.? !!

 

Regards, Haba.

[habari24]

All you need to do the job in Windows 98 are these two lines, preferably in your autoexec.bat, and the TIF folder wil be deleted in its entirety on boot, including the index.dat file. without the need of any further user action.

 

Smartdrv

Deltree /Y C:\Windows\Tempor~1

On reboot there will be a brand new Temporary Internet Files folder containing a gleaming new index.dat file...

[\quote]

 

 

Hi,Tony. As I am also a "keep it simple" guy, I decided to go for your solution initially and I happily confirm that it was successful and the Content IE5 element of my Index.dat entries now disappear on boot-up. According to my old SPIDER index.dat cleaner I also have index.dat files at :------C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\index.dat -----

C:\WINDOWS\History\History.IE5\index.dat-----

C:\WINDOWS\History\History.IE5\MSHist012006052720060528\index.dat------ and the scan duly records entries under those each of those headings. I can locate the Cookies ID file but I've never been able to locate the two History.IE5 ID files. !! Can you advise me what lines I should put into my autoexec.bat to zap these other index.dat files at boot-up,please. ? Can you also tell me if the "Overwrite" exercise I've been attempting would be any more effective than this autoexec method, as I was told that it would actually "kill-off" the ID entries at birth so there would never be any on your PC, even between boots. ?

Kind Regards, Haba.

[TonyKlein]

Hi,Tony. As I am also a "keep it simple" guy, I decided to go for your solution initially and I happily confirm that it was successful and the Content IE5 element of my Index.dat entries now disappear on boot-up.

 

That's good to hear.

 

According to my old SPIDER index.dat cleaner I also have index.dat files at :------C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\index.dat -----

C:\WINDOWS\History\History.IE5\index.dat-----

C:\WINDOWS\History\History.IE5\MSHist012006052720060528\index.dat------ and the scan duly records entries under those each of those headings. I can locate the Cookies ID file but I've never been able to locate the two History.IE5 ID files. !! Can you advise me what lines I should put into my autoexec.bat to zap these other index.dat files at boot-up,please. ?

 

Here you go; in fact, in the Autoexec.bat, delete the "Deltree /Y C:\Windows\Tempor~1" line I frst gave you, and replace it by adding the folllwing three lines under the 'smartdrv' line:

 

DELTREE /y c:\windows\tempor~1\*.* > NUL

DELTREE /y c:\windows\history\*.* > NUL

DELTREE /y c:\windows\cookies\*.* > NUL

 

It's just a tad more 'elegant', and achieves the same thing.

 

Now the contents of your History, TIF, AND Cookies folders will be deleted on boot, and a spanking new index.dat file will be created in each.

 

BTW, all this happens because Windows stores the location of these and other per-user special folders under the following registry keys:

 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

 

... and it consults those keys at boot, making sure those shell folders exist. If not, it will create them

 

 

Can you also tell me if the "Overwrite" exercise I've been attempting would be any more effective than this autoexec method, as I was told that it would actually "kill-off" the ID entries at birth so there would never be any on your PC, even between boots. ?

 

It's a nice excercise in batch file writing, but, no not really. A brand new index.dat file contains no user data, so if you do it 'my' way that's absolutely sufficient.

[habari24]

Here you go; in fact, in the Autoexec.bat, delete the "Deltree /Y C:\Windows\Tempor~1" line I frst gave you, and replace it by adding the folllwing three lines under the 'smartdrv' line:

It's just a tad more 'elegant', and achieves the same thing.

 

Now the contents of your History, TIF, AND Cookies folders will be deleted on boot, and a spanking new index.dat file will be created in each.

[\quote]

 

Great,Super,Ultra and other superlatives,Tony. !! All index.dat entries now gone at boot.

My old Spider has done a good job for years but is now redundant, although I may give him a run

once in a while for old times sake. !! Can I finally bother you with two more questions,please. 1) I've spent so much time trying to find how to answer the command prompt response "overwrite c:\windows\tempo (Yes/No/All)?" when the only things my keyboard would allow me to type were upper and lower case Y/y N/n and A/a.!! I tried them all and always got the response "Bad command or file name" and would still like to know how to get past it. ? 2) Do you know of any purpose Index.dat files serve, other than the intrusion of privacy which I have always considered them to be ? Many Thanks and Kind Regards, Haba.

[TonyKlein]

Glzd we were able to help.

 

As for your questions, "y" should really work, just like it does in the batch command: "DELTREE /y" Not sure what happened there...

 

And here's some reading on index.dat files: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index.dat

 

Happy surfing!

[habari24]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index.dat[/url]

 

 

 

 

Thanks again Tony. 1) Although "y" (nor Y,N,n,A,or a) didn't work for me, the biggest mystery was all the other keys on my keyboard being "dead" when I tried to type anything else.!!

2) A very interesting link and I would still advocate an anti-index.dat attitude.

 

All The Best, Haba.

 

 

PS. Don't know what happened to the quote.!! 1) Should read " As for your questions, "y" should really work, just like it does in the batch command: "DELTREE /y" Not sure what happened there". 2) Should read "And here's some reading on index.dat files: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index.dat"

[TonyKlein]

Thanks again Tony. didn't work for me, the biggest mystery was all the other keys on my keyboard being "dead" when I tried to type anything else.!!"

 

If it is a USB keyboard, and your computer's BIOS doesn't provide legacy support for USB devices it won't work in MS-DOS at all. But I understand that some keys DO work?

[Aragorn7]

I must say I am amazed at all the workable alternatives to something that was supposed to be performed by CCleaner. That's why I downloaded CCleaner today and donated the $20.

 

The original issue stated was:

 

Hi. I have just discovered that (despite the appropriate setting) CC is not deleting my Index.dat files, which are still there when I reboot after running a scan. Running a series of scans doesn't make any difference. What is the remedy,please.?

 

Cheers, Haba.

 

 

Well, I had exactly the same problem when trying to do this today. I rebooted after running CCleaner and the index.dat files were still the same size. However, I elected to try running in Safe Mode for my next attempt (I'm using XP sp2) and using CCleaner from there. After reboot, my index.dat files were essentially the size indicated by those on the forum.

 

So, Habari24 obviously my suggestion would be to try using CCleaner from Safe Mode when deleting index.dat is the issue. While I'm fairly versed in using the Command Line Interface [Command (DOS) Prompt] and have no problems with the suggestions offered. I just think Safe Mode is a whole lot easier in this case. At least, it worked for me.

 

I also think CCleaner, though a very nice utility, should perform as advertised without these extra steps.

 

I hope this helps and I hope you get a chance to see this posting which is a quite a bit later than your original posting.

 

p.s. Getting into safe mode is easy -- just boot your system and as soon as it starts just start tapping the F8 function key until the startup menu is offered. Your computer will offer you several startup options. The first of which will be safe mode.