Index.dat Suite - the hidden truth about Internet Explorer

Notes from ClifNotes, Nov 2005 - Updated May 2008, permalink Browser Tools

What does Internet Explorer hide from us? IE hides information about web sites you visit in it's index.dat files. These files are nearly impossible for the average user to find and remove. Some people claim that it's a conspiracy between Microsoft and the U.S. Government.

The truth about the index.dat files: What, why and where?

by Steven Burn

Two of the most common questions I get asked are, "what are the index.dat files?" and "will deleting them harm my computer?", the answer to the second is quite simply, no - deleting them will not harm the computer, at all.

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Notes from Clif

Not only does Steven tell us some of the history of index.dat files, he also offers a solution. Steven is the author of the well known freeware Index.dat Suite. Steven had recently updated the suite and it now supports 9x, ME, 2K, Server 2003, XP and Vista.

It's not uncommon for Internet Explorer to start getting buggy or slowing down. Quite often, I've seen experts recommend that you clean out all of your Internet Explorer temporary files and to clean up some of the other files not needed on your PC. If you've read Steven's article above, you'll also know that the index.dat files from Internet Explorer may also be a way for others to see your surfing history, if your PC should ever be accessed by someone else. Steven's Index.dat Suite is a tool that will remove the index.dat files and do much of the cleaning that is needed to keep your PC running smoothly. Here's what Steven says about it.

Index.dat Suite is a rather unique program that allows you not only to delete the index.dat files, temporary internet files, temp files, cookies and history, but it also allows you to view the index.dat files on your system.

Full application logging

Download Index.dat Suite