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Thread ID: 15025	2002-01-26 10:13:00	Educational reading about IE	Guest (0)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
32937	2002-01-26 10:13:00	hey, i was just reading from www.astalavista.com is it possible to do this? or does it totally stuff up everything... to go to such length you must have lots to hide i spose aye! (purely educational, i got nothin' 2 hide btw)	Guest (0)
32938	2002-01-26 14:37:00	Well, yes it is possible, but while this article is correct, it is also hopelessly misinformed. This is not a huge conspiracy to provide hidden evidence of seedy behaviour. The Index.dat file keeps an index of all the sites visited, the key point to note, is it is only those sites visited since you last cleared your history. When you clear your history, it resets the pointer on this file to the beginning, rather than actually deleting it. It then just overwrites the information as required. As you can imagine, this allows the file to get bigger, but never smaller. Many people choose to delete this file simply because they have not cleared their history in a long time at some stage or other, and deleting it is the only way to recover the space. Secondly, this file is not masterfully and deliberately hidden. As, in normal operation of your computer, you are unable to access this file due to it being constantly accessed, and the average user needs not worry about this file, hiding it as most system files are, is just one of the options configured in the customisation of your c:\windows\temporary internet files\ directory. Ever noted that this directory lists files differently to most other directories? How it lists the source URL as a file attribute, this too is part of the folder customisation designed to increase the usefulness of this folder. You can reset this to that of a standard folder by right clicking inside the folder, selecting customise this folder and then selecting to remove customisation. Suddenly, all subdirectories, as well as index.dat are easily viewable. The tradeoff to this is that no longer will you be presented with the custom view listing the URL's etc. As to the multiple copies of this file, this is simply that there is a general 'master copy' in c:\windows\temporary internet files\ however each username that is created, has its own copy of this file which is then stored in its profile directory, so every other copy is only there because you decided to add another username. The notes about not actually deleting emails when you select to delete them, this is an extremely common feature called lazy deletion. Ever accidently deleted a file and then gone into your recycle bin to undelete it? You couldnt do this if the file was actually removed from your hard drive. The fact that this is possible is due to the fact that until something else is written over the exact same spot on your hard disk, even though the reference to the file is gone from the File Allocation Table, the data is still physically on the drive. Hope this furthers your educational reading ;-) But just remember that not everything you read is correct, Id even bet Ive made one or two mistakes myself...	Guest (0)
32939	2002-01-27 08:39:00	Iain, you don't happen to be a teacher do you? If you aren't, well you should be! I appreciated the 'lesson' BTW.	Guest (0)
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