Index.dat in 2011 After All MS Updates to Windows 7

[Molly Lee]

MS keeps updating Windows 7 to ensure that we can no longer delete or reset the index.dat files. The result is that no matter what fix is posted here, MS does something to ensure the fix no longer works.

Here's the laundry list of solutions that no longer work.

Malwarebytes (various problems -- says file is open in Malwarebytes, is hidden and cannot be found even though Windows options have been changed to show hidden files)
CCleaner (ineffective)
index.dat Suite (currently completely disabled for Windows 7)
index.dat suite (to find all files) combined with Eraser (to erase the files) (comes back wtih error message)
Red Button (can't remember specifics here -- just that it doesn't work)
Mil Sheild (can't remember specifics on this one either -- just that it doesn't work)

and finally the instructions in the most recent thread on Index.dat which involve booting in safe command and going to the root file to delete index.dat. (I receive an error message that the file does not exist even though I can find 15 separate index.dat files with index.dat suite.

I'm not computer savvy so I need kindergarten type baby step instructions on how to delete or reset the files under the lastest greatest Windows 7 with all updates to 2011. Has anyone figured this out yet? Will you please help me?

 

[mitchell65]

Hi Molly Lee and a warm welcome to the Forum.
As you say

Neither am I a computer expert. and I'm not computer savvy so I need kindergarten type baby step instructions on how to delete or reset the files

May I boldly suggest that it is not very wise to "mess" with the system files. This is really why, by default, they are hidden. Someone else may help you but frankly I would never encourage anyone who didn't consider themselves to be quite experienced to edit system files.
But then if you insist there are a number of threads on this forum. Try this one for starters;
http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/46845-removing-index-dat-windows-7-a-2.html

 

[Molly Lee]

Thanks for the reminder! I agree that's a concern. And that is exactly why I'm here reaching to for help. I don't know computers but there are some brilliant people on this forum. They do know how to fix it and they do know how to give instructions. And I'm pretty good at following instructions.

Thanks for the thread reference. That's the one I referred to above in my original post. Each of the solutions no longer works because of updates to Windows (I detailed the ones I tried). The only one I haven't tried is the batch file because I do not know how to write batch files and include them in the registry and there are no detailed instructions for that.

If someone knows how to do that, I'd love some help. Thanks.

 

[indianacarnie]

I too would like to know this. If you halfway know what you're doing and are careful messing with the system files shouldnt be all that terrible. I spent almost an hour last night "messing with system protected files" with no problem. Though I will admit to backing them up first. But.... I this morning deleted the backup and securely erased them.

Molly Lee ..... if you can find the files and access them you may need to delete them by changing ownership which is harder than it SHOULD be but not impossible (just tedious). As I said, spent an hour doing that last night, and I am by no means an I.T. expert. Look online for the way to change/modify a file by getting past "Trusted Installer". While I have not done this with index.dat files, I will be looking into it as soon as I log off today. Good Luck and P.M. me if you find an easier way to do it.

 

[Molly Lee]

Thanks for the lead! You may be onto somthing here. I hadn't tried to get past the "trusted installer" but I did try to change the ownership and attributes of the files. Thanks again!

 

[IggyAZ]

Index.dat

In the Microsoft Windows operating system, index.dat is a database file used by the Internet Explorerweb browser. It is used to improve performance.
Contents

• 1 Function
• 2 Controversy
• 3 References
• 4 External links

Function

The index.dat file is a database file. It is a repository of information such as web URLs, search queries and recently opened files. Its purpose is to enable quick access to data used by Internet Explorer. For example, every web address visited is stored in the index.dat file, allowing Internet Explorer to quickly find Autocomplete matches as the user types a web address. The index.dat file is user-specific and is open as long a user is logged on in Windows. Separate index.dat files exist for the Internet Explorer history, cache, and cookies.
The index.dat file is never resized or deleted. A large index.dat file can impair performance.

Note: The .dat extension is commonly used for data files (files that are not human-readable and do not hold a document-based binary file). It's possible to find files named 'index.dat' that are not used by Internet Explorer.


Controversy

Internet privacy groups contend that the use of index.dat files in the Windows operating system is an invasion of users' privacy. The information contained in an index.dat file can be considered private to the user.
One of the groups' main complaints is that the index.dat files cannot easily be deleted.
This is because windows prevents open or "locked" files from being deleted.

It has been contended that the means provided by the Windows operating system for removing information from the index.dat files give a false sense of security. Although the internet cache folder can be cleared, its use cannot be disabled. Also, removing individual entries from an index.dat file (for example, by using Windows Explorer) only prevents those entries being used; it does not remove the files referenced until the next "cleanup". (Marking single entries as deleted rather than erasing them is a common database method of quickly removing items from use whilst also retaining those items should it be desirable to reverse the deletion.)
While some have claimed that the Windows Operating System deliberately hides index.dat files, others point to the fact that Windows Explorer offers users a detailed view of the content of the files when browsing containing folders, even allowing the removal of specific entries.
Various free programs (among them Red Button, CCleaner, Index.dat Suite), can completely remove index.dat files until they are recreated by Windows, though CCleaner, and perhaps the others, does not delete the hidden index.dat file in the Temporary Internet Files folder, which contains a copy of the cookies that were in the Cookies folder.

 

[Fayla]

I was wondering about that myself! I only have Firefox installed and used the feature remove to drop IE awhile back. Yet, CC cleaner keeps on detecting the IE history file (index.dat)

 

[Molly Lee]

IggyAZ -- Your posting matches the Wikipedia article on index.dat. The solutions in wikipedia don't work anymore -- updates to Windows 7 have made it more difficult -- if not impossible to delete the contents (or "refresh") the file. See the original post for a list of these and other "solutions" that no longer work. Anybody got the latest greatest way to fix the index.dat?

 

[indianacarnie]

I am in the middle of something and cant try out the suggestion I made earlier.

Heres the link I found for getting past "trustedInstaller" though, and its really not as hard as it sounds.

Windows 7 – How to Delete Files Protected by TrustedInstaller

index.dat suite will show you the location of your index.dat files but wont remove them in win7.

Index.dat Suite - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

 

[mitchell65]

Well just to add another two pennyworth here I have never come across the index.dat files noticeable slowing down anything i do on the internet. What internet applications do you refer to MollyLee? Do you mean your browser, if so have you tried Chrome? Its much faster than most of the others. Also does your internet speed fluctuate during certain times of the day? Have you tried random speed checks just to eliminate/ If not try this one:
Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test
There are so many different reasons for slow internet use that is is well worth checking them all before editing any of our system files!

 

[DeaconFrost]

I'm going to piggyback on what mitchell65 said, and ask how or why you think the index.dat file is slowing dowwn your computer? I'm not saying this is impossible, but this is the first I've heard of it, or anyone wanting to do anything with their index.dat file that wasn't paranoia/security related.

 

[Molly Lee]

I want to delete it because it's eating up space on my computer and it runs slower when it's there. I (used to) regularly clean the file out and things went faster. Why do we pay for memory that is being used for someone else's purposes? Really, I'm happy to give the file to someone else (MS, gov, post on internet) but I clearly don't need it, it doesn't help the system, it's burning up my memory, and why should I keep it?

So, let me ask you, why would I need it? I need the memory. I don't need the file. I want to delete it.

Finally, changing ownership doesn't help with the index.dat which resides in a locked file under the users/appdata...../history folder beause the history subfolder is locked.

Does it not seem ironic to you folks at MS that we purchase memory and then you use the memory we purchased for someone else's storage purposes? As I said, I don't care who sees the history, but I don't care to keep it. If someone else is interested in it, they can have it. But I'm not storing it for them at my own memory expense.

Why is that so hard for MS to understand?

 

[DeaconFrost]

I'm not computer savvy

Again, I have to ask how or why you think the index.dat files are affecting your computer in any way. I am working on a Windows 7 Pro system with 8 index.dat files (according to CCleaner), that take up 30 KB in space. I use IE8 as my primary and only web browser.

Without trying to sound rude, the index.dat file is not slowing down your computer, wasting memory, or anything like that. I'm not sure where you got this idea, but I wouldn't go to that source for any more tech info. If you want to wipe the contents of the file for security reasons, apparently CCleaner will do so. However, if performance is what you are after, there are several thousand items on the checklist before the index.dat files.

 

[Molly Lee]

One of the larger Index.dat files is in the Users/.../Appdata/Local/Microsoft/Windows/History folder. There are two subfolders there that can be seen using a dos command, or any of the softwares (like Ccleaner). However, the history folder is locked. You can't change ownership and none of the softwares can get to the files.

I do wonder though why you keep questioning my motive.
How does one delete the index.dat files from the hidden/locked history folder cited above? None of the software mentioned so far works.

 

[DeaconFrost]

You seem to be ignoring all of my posts, picking out random bits and pieces. You also have changed your questioning and reasoning along the way. First off, you wanted to delete the files because it was slowing your computer down. When questioned (politely), you decided to argue with me, after stating you needed things put into a kindergarten type level.

Is that any way to seek help from people putting in effort to answer your questions?

Now, let's get the facts out on the table for learning purposes. The index.dat files are not slowing your computer down. If this was your reasonsing for cleaning them, then yes, we should all be questioning your motives. However, as I said above, if you wan tto clean them for privacy concerns, then so be it. We could debate the merits of that in another thread, but it still is a legitimate question. My only suggestion is to use CCleaner, but apparently that doesn't access all of the files, so something else is needed.

In recap, editing/cleaning the file for performance reasons....nonsensical. Editing/cleaning them for privacy reasons...perfectly acceptable question, and one with no clear, easy answer unfortunately.

See the difference? If you trace back in your own line of questions...you've altered your purposes. See Post #12, where you give performance related reasons, suggesting it was slowing down your computer. In the future, just come right out with what you want to do, and don't give an attitude to people trying to help you.

 

[Barkoid]

This was the most recent thread I could find on this issue. I hope the bump is okay, and that you might help me out with this.

I wish to move or remove index.dat so that I can shrink my partition. It's very much in the way, but none of my attempts have so far been successful.

I have tried CCleaner and movefile. If I check the folder Contents.IE5 immediately after the lastest CCleaner has removed everything in all check boxes, the index.dat file is still there, still barring the way.

Even the command line isn't able to find the file upon a deletion attempt, even though it manages to fill in the filename when I press tab.

 

[DeaconFrost]

How large is your index.dat file?

 

[Heptagon]

Hello.

I've read through this thread. After a promising start the trail seems to have been lost.
The original issue was the actual deletion of index.dat files given the context of recent updates to the OS. Can anyone at this stage give clear directions as to how this can be achieved ?

Thanks.

 

[logicearth]

Log into a different user account. Its not that hard. Just use your brain.

 

[Heptagon]

Interesting suggestion - the first one. Worth a try. As for the old grey matter - well isn't being able to draw on somebody else's the whole point of the forum ?

Cheers.