IE10 uses WebcacheV01.dat vs index.dat files. How to clear/delete?

Hope to open a discussion regarding privacy with Internet Explorer 10 and the way information is now cached.
There appears to be a lack of information on the internet regarding the handling of this cache.

Prior to IE10, much was written about how IE utilizes index.dat files (cookies/history/temporary internet files) to retain the users browsing history even after utilizing the built in IE deletion tools.
The only way to eleminate that collection of data was by deleting IE's index.dat files.
Many methods, programs, and procedures were developed and posted over the years to accomplish this deletion.

It is my understanding that beginning with IE10, IE no longer utilizes index.dat files.

Instead it stores all browsing information (cookies/history/visited URL's) in a central database located at C:\user\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache\WebcacheV01.dat

This file accumulates all activities the way the index.dat files did on earlier IE versions and presents the same privacy issues.

Since IE10 (and I suspect now IE11) retain this information in a different manner,

Are there any other places that browsing information is cached?
What effect does utilizing the IE Delete Browsing History tool have on this cache?
Has anyone successfully deleted/cleared this file?
Is so how?
Can it just be deleted like the old index.dat files?
Can the gurus here created a script to accomplish this?

Any discussion on this topic would be appreciated since there is little published on how to control the users information being captured in the newer IE's.

Thx

Thanks for your response.
As critical as this is to a user's privacy, I am surprised how little has been published.
Here are some info sites that I have found:

Eric Lawrence

There is also a PDF that I have attached which was written by a computer forensic organization. They also are trying to figure out how to obtain your browsing information!
Note that toward the end of the PDF it talks about information being collected in Logs then transferred to the WebcacheV01.dat file after IE is closed. Also with a Private Session, information is not retained but can be recovered using specialized program(s).

Starting at the basics, I am using IE9 and have yet to update to IE10 pending some answers.
From the info above, it appears that IE going forward, including the new IE11, will be utilizing this new caching arrangement.

Questions for those who have IE10 installed:

1. Does utililizing the IE "Delete Browsing History" option with ALL items checked reduce the size of the WebcacheV01.dat file?
(ie: by chance does "Delete Browsing History" clear out the WebcacheV01.dat file information? Or similar to the old index.dat does WebcacheV01.dat continue to accumulate all your browsing history/cookies/URL sites?)

2. With IE10, has anyone moved the Temporary Internet Files folder to a alternate location or hard drive? If so does the WebcacheV01.dat file (or another copy of it) move to the new location? If so, can the file be cleared, or deleted from the alternate location?
(Note: with IE9, after I moved the TIF folder to my second hard drive I discovered that I could delete the TIF index.dat file whenever I wanted and IE would simply recreate an empty index.dat the next time I opened IE).

3. I think that CCleaner may be able to clean these files. Does anyone have CCleaner installed that can confirm this?

Hopefully through this forum we can get some working knowledge of this feature and how to manage our privacy going forward with IE.

Lexus45 said:

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Questions for those who have IE10 installed:

1. Does utililizing the IE "Delete Browsing History" option with ALL items checked reduce the size of the WebcacheV01.dat file?
(ie: by chance does "Delete Browsing History" clear out the WebcacheV01.dat file information? Or similar to the old index.dat does WebcacheV01.dat continue to accumulate all your browsing history/cookies/URL sites?)

2. With IE10, has anyone moved the Temporary Internet Files folder to a alternate location or hard drive? If so does the WebcacheV01.dat file (or another copy of it) move to the new location? If so, can the file be cleared, or deleted from the alternate location?
(Note: with IE9, after I moved the TIF folder to my second hard drive I discovered that I could delete the TIF index.dat file whenever I wanted and IE would simply recreate an empty index.dat the next time I opened IE).

3. I think that CCleaner may be able to clean these files. Does anyone have CCleaner installed that can confirm this?

Hopefully through this forum we can get some working knowledge of this feature and how to manage our privacy going forward with IE.

In my opinion, the webcache folder/files/database is more of an OS thing than an IE thing. As mentioned in Eric's blog (and elsewhere): you can remove IE from the OS and "surfing" data will still be tracked in the webcache database. I have found that opening certain help files (CHM files) will cause data to be added to this database. Most any app that makes a call to the INET API will cause data to be added to the webcache database. (I tested this using a CHM file and IE11 "removed" via "Turn Windows features on or off".)

The link that you posted to Eric's blog briefly mentions WinINET - but I'm willing to say the starting with IE10, MS just opted to change the way that the OS handles that API - thus the webcache database is an OS thing. I mention this because your questions mention IE10 and I'm testing with IE11. It should not matter which browser version we discuss; the webcache principles should be the same.

So:
> Does utilizing the IE "Delete Browsing History" option with ALL items checked reduce the size of the WebcacheV01.dat file?
You seem to be assuming that a reduction in the file size means that some or all surfing history has been removed. This is not always the case.

Deleting the webcache folder and its contents
then restarting the OS
should cause WebCacheV01.dat to be 32,832KB.

Running the "Delete Browsing History" option...*
(with all items checked and nothing preserved)
...does not change the size of the file.

*this is not the option to "Delete browsing history on exit".

Killing the taskhost.exe process** and then
running the "Delete Browsing History" option...
(with all items checked and nothing preserved)
...DOES reduce the size of the file.
In my test, WebCacheV01.dat shrunk to 20,544KB.

**the OS will eventually take control of the webcache folder (locking some of its files) using a dllhost.exe process. Once this happens, removing the webcache folder requires killing the correct dllhost.exe process.

Running the "Delete Browsing History" option does NOT remove the surfing history from the webcache database - even if taskhost/dllhost has been killed.



> With IE10, has anyone moved the Temporary Internet Files folder to a alternate location or hard drive?
I could not get that folder to move to another drive using the folder properties > location tab method. Perhaps the Virtual Machine setup does not perfectly mimic a real system.




> I think that CCleaner may be able to clean these files. Does anyone have CCleaner installed that can confirm this?
Not a chance. CCleaner (by its conservative nature) is not going to touch these files. Testing confirms that the surfing history remains after running CCleaner.


I'm still hoping that others will chime in. I can't be the only member that has spent time on this prior to your post. I'm more interested in scripting the removal of the surfing history.

UsernameIssues,

Did you have a chance to read the PDF file? The info regarding databases will probably make more sense to you than it did for me.

Yes, I was approaching this assuming that the changes were IE related not so much a change in the OS as you suspect.

I have also posted in the MS Community - Internet Explorer and have received very little response.

It is hard to believe that almost no one including PC Magazines and blogs seem interested or concerned with this major privacy issue as they once where with the index.dat files.

Lexus45 said:

UsernameIssues,

Did you have a chance to read the PDF file?.....

I skimmed thru it. I'm not too interested in how the database works or why MS had to change. I simply delete the entire webcache folder. The part of the PDF that I have yet to work thru in detail is the info in the screenshot at the top of page 22: the list of where other info is cached/recorded. I have yet to compare it to the list of folders that I attempt to clear.

Lexus45 said:

~~~
It is hard to believe that almost no one including PC Magazines and blogs seem interested or concerned with this major privacy issue as they once where with the index.dat files.

My guess is: they have concluded that privacy is an illusion.

My reason for clearing out all of the data is: Many moons ago, there were a few problematic websites inside the company that I work for. The help desk just told us to clear everything out of IE. Sadly, this did help, so I automated the process. As IE has changed, I've learned more than I really care to know about where all IE stashes stuff.

I doubt that the info in the webcache has any impact on return visits to a website (like a cookie does); but it does not matter to me since I automatically delete the entire folder each time IE closes.

I'm still interested in what (if anything) others do with these files.

@Lexus45,
Just think how unique* we are. It seems that no other members wish to post about this topic :-(


*that's my term for us and I'm sticking to it

Set your folder options like this:

(you can see the folder path)


But don't delete any files in there just yet.