User.dat is a binary file which can't be viewed in a text editor such as Notepad (and on my 98 system it will not even open in Notepad, as it is too large). Making any change in user.dat is dangerous. If you wish to change the contents of that file, make the changes you wish in the registry or through User in Control Panel and they will be reflected in user.dat.
The information in the User.dat file can be edited using the registry editor program (regedit) that comes with Windows. The regedit program also has a search function in which you can find the information that you want to change or delete. As Denny stated this procedure can be dangerous if the wrong information is changed or deleted. In the event of problems down the road you will have to restore the registry from a previous good version and hopefully that version isn't one of your edited ones.
The index.dat file you mention I assume is the one in the c:\windows\cookies folder. I have found the easiest way to get rid of this file is by creating a batch file that runs when the computer is first booted. The batch file will run in MS-DOS before Windows loads and deletes that folder and then will re-make it. Once Windows is booted it will recreate the Index.dat file on it's own so there is no ill effect on the operating system. I also use this same clean up batch file to empty my Internet Explorer cache at boot.
To echo what has already been said, your registry is comprised of two components ... user.dat and system.dat and is in a format that you cannot readily edit. The Windows editor specifically intended for this purpose is regedit and that's what you should use. As concerns index.dat files, Billy and his boys don't want for you to delete those for various reasons that I'll not go into here. As Majestic suggested those may be deleted via a batch file in DOS before Windows seizes control. I wrote just such a batch file to do that and more. The batch file must be executed in native DOS mode before Widows is launched to avoid activation of the Windows file locking feature (sharing violation). To automate the process at each boot, ZAP.BAT can be called from or added to the auotexec.bat. You will note multiple entries, because I have found that these pesky folders/files can appear in several different locations including profiles folders which I don't have. These multiple locations further complicate the deletion process. Please note that the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP folder is REM'd out because that folder can contain installation software components that are accessed during a reboot and should not be deleted before being invoked. You will also note an unusual section at the bottom that creates, runs and then deletes regedit code to remove various Most Recently Used lists from your registry. Here's the batch file...
Actually Denny, Majestic and I aren't surprised. Without going into all the technical intracies (that's been done and done well before on this forum), tis the nature of what appears to be an unusal folder, but isn't actually a folder at all. The bottom line though is that it is difficult to clear out the index.dat which harbors the old information that you are surprised to have found. The batch file Denny recommended or the simpler one that I provided deletes the folders and Window reconstructs the folders and a new (read empty) index.dat. Try either batch file for yourself and you'll see that they work quite nicely. Another possibilitly is to use one of the many available tools that simplifiy the task for you like the freeware app Disk Cleaner http://www.xs4all.nl/~mp2004/ Disk Cleaner is a "one click" file/folder/registry cleaner that clears IE Cache, Cookies, History, typed and visited URLS (websites), Windows Temp and Recent (Documents) folders, Recycle Bin, Run and Find lists and MRU (most recently used) file lists. It runs from Windows using a simple intuitive checkbox interface. I think you will find it to your liking.
Jim McNamara
Message Edited by jimmymac_4 on 09-20-2004 11:15 PM
To all the above posters. All suggestions are very good. Jimmymac_4, your batch is very all inclusive (I haven't tried it yet). Along with your and Denny's advice, this will remove all index.dat files and history traces on bootup with a short batch file:
I took his batch file ( the Renaissance Man ) and edited it to only delete the index.dat file. This is what it looks like (bold text). Remove the REM from the front of any of the history or cookie lines to enable them (if you wish to delete histories or cookies).
Copy/paste the following bold text to notepad and then save to C: as delta.bat. and follow the rest of his instructions. When you're done, and use windows explorer, you should see C:\Delta.bat under the C: listing. You also have to put it in the scheduled tasks to run at startup. Start> programs> accessories> system tools> scheduled tasks> Add scheduled task and have it run at startup.
A note of caution: Removing cookies will remove all cookies, even the good ones. For example, your banking and other services that require a cookie for ease of access. It is recommended to leave them disabled unless you really want them gone.
@echo off deltree /y c:\windows\tempor~1\content.ie5\index.dat>nul rem deltree /y c:\windows\history\history.ie5\index.dat>nul rem deltree /y c:\windows\history\history.ie5\mshist~1\index.dat>nul rem deltree /y c:\windows\cookies\index.dat>nul cls exit
Important:
Also for Win98, in mscofig> autoexec.bat> new button, add C:\Delta.bat and move it to the top of the list.
Denny Denham
2 Intern
•
18.8K Posts
0
June 10th, 2004 04:00
User.dat is a binary file which can't be viewed in a text editor such as Notepad (and on my 98 system it will not even open in Notepad, as it is too large). Making any change in user.dat is dangerous. If you wish to change the contents of that file, make the changes you wish in the registry or through User in Control Panel and they will be reflected in user.dat.
Majestic
9.4K Posts
0
June 10th, 2004 11:00
The information in the User.dat file can be edited using the registry editor program (regedit) that comes with Windows. The regedit program also has a search function in which you can find the information that you want to change or delete. As Denny stated this procedure can be dangerous if the wrong information is changed or deleted. In the event of problems down the road you will have to restore the registry from a previous good version and hopefully that version isn't one of your edited ones.
The index.dat file you mention I assume is the one in the c:\windows\cookies folder. I have found the easiest way to get rid of this file is by creating a batch file that runs when the computer is first booted. The batch file will run in MS-DOS before Windows loads and deletes that folder and then will re-make it. Once Windows is booted it will recreate the Index.dat file on it's own so there is no ill effect on the operating system. I also use this same clean up batch file to empty my Internet Explorer cache at boot.
jimmymac_4
155 Posts
0
June 10th, 2004 17:00
Hi,
To echo what has already been said, your registry is comprised of two components ... user.dat and system.dat and is in a format that you cannot readily edit. The Windows editor specifically intended for this purpose is regedit and that's what you should use. As concerns index.dat files, Billy and his boys don't want for you to delete those for various reasons that I'll not go into here. As Majestic suggested those may be deleted via a batch file in DOS before Windows seizes control. I wrote just such a batch file to do that and more. The batch file must be executed in native DOS mode before Widows is launched to avoid activation of the Windows file locking feature (sharing violation). To automate the process at each boot, ZAP.BAT can be called from or added to the auotexec.bat. You will note multiple entries, because I have found that these pesky folders/files can appear in several different locations including profiles folders which I don't have. These multiple locations further complicate the deletion process. Please note that the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP folder is REM'd out because that folder can contain installation software components that are accessed during a reboot and should not be deleted before being invoked. You will also note an unusual section at the bottom that creates, runs and then deletes regedit code to remove various Most Recently Used lists from your registry. Here's the batch file...
@ECHO OFF
REM -------------------- Win9x / IE4-6 ---------------------
REM The following will be purged: Internet Explorer Cookies,
REM Temporary Internet Files (Cache), History, Typed URLs,
REM Downloaded Programs, Offline Web Pages, and Windows Temp
REM (remove REM), Recent (Documents), Recycle Bin folders
REM and various registry Most Recently Used lists
REM --------------------------------------------------------
CLS
DELTREE /Y C:\TEMPOR~1 > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\COOKIES > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\HISTORY > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1 > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\COOKIES > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\HISTORY > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\TEMPOR~1 > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\COOKIES > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HISTORY > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\APPLIC~1\TEMPOR~1 > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\APPLIC~1\COOKIES > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\APPLIC~1\HISTORY > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\LOCALS~1\TEMPOR~1 > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\LOCALS ~1\COOKIES > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\LOCALS~1\HISTORY > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\DOWNLO~1\. > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\OFFLIN~1\. > NUL
REM DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\. > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDOWS\RECENT\. > NUL
DELTREE /Y C:\RECYCLED\. > NUL
ECHO REGEDIT4 > C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedTypedURLs] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedTypedURLs] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Wordpad\Recent File List] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRU] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StreamMRU] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\OCXStreamMRU] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\RecentURLList] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\RecentFileList] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\LastVisitedMRU] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\OpenSaveMRU] >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO. >> C:\RegClear.reg
ECHO [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\InstallLocationsMRU] >> C:\RegClear.reg
REGEDIT /S C:\RegClear.reg
DEL C:\RegClear.reg
Jim McNamara
Message Edited by jimmymac_4 on 09-30-2004 11:25 PM
greenfl0wer
89 Posts
0
June 10th, 2004 20:00
I have tried using regedit and search with it to see if i find the text that i saw in the user.dat file but i cant find it.
i use a notedpad replacement ( is much better than the regular that comes with windows) to opened the user,dat file
=====> try to open the ...
c:\windows\tempor~1\content.ie5\index.dat
c:\windows\cookies\index.dat
c:\windows\history\history.ie5\index.dat
c:\windows\history\history.ie5\mshist~1\index.dat
you'll be surprised to see Url's from 3 to 4 months ago.
Denny Denham
2 Intern
•
18.8K Posts
0
June 10th, 2004 21:00
Run Cleanall.bat from here and it will get rid of most of the accumulated detritus on your hard disk.
jimmymac_4
155 Posts
0
June 11th, 2004 18:00
Hi,
Actually Denny, Majestic and I aren't surprised. Without going into all the technical intracies (that's been done and done well before on this forum), tis the nature of what appears to be an unusal folder, but isn't actually a folder at all. The bottom line though is that it is difficult to clear out the index.dat which harbors the old information that you are surprised to have found. The batch file Denny recommended or the simpler one that I provided deletes the folders and Window reconstructs the folders and a new (read empty) index.dat. Try either batch file for yourself and you'll see that they work quite nicely. Another possibilitly is to use one of the many available tools that simplifiy the task for you like the freeware app Disk Cleaner http://www.xs4all.nl/~mp2004/ Disk Cleaner is a "one click" file/folder/registry cleaner that clears IE Cache, Cookies, History, typed and visited URLS (websites), Windows Temp and Recent (Documents) folders, Recycle Bin, Run and Find lists and MRU (most recently used) file lists. It runs from Windows using a simple intuitive checkbox interface. I think you will find it to your liking.
Jim McNamara
Message Edited by jimmymac_4 on 09-20-2004 11:15 PM
chuket
1.4K Posts
0
June 12th, 2004 03:00
To all the above posters. All suggestions are very good. Jimmymac_4, your batch is very all inclusive (I haven't tried it yet). Along with your and Denny's advice, this will remove all index.dat files and history traces on bootup with a short batch file:
http://www.computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/111809.html
I took his batch file ( the Renaissance Man ) and edited it to only delete the index.dat file. This is what it looks like (bold text).
Remove the REM from the front of any of the history or cookie lines to enable them (if you wish to delete histories or cookies).
Copy/paste the following bold text to notepad and then save to C: as delta.bat. and follow the rest of his instructions. When you're done, and use windows explorer, you should see C:\Delta.bat under the C: listing. You also have to put it in the scheduled tasks to run at startup. Start> programs> accessories> system tools> scheduled tasks> Add scheduled task and have it run at startup.
A note of caution: Removing cookies will remove all cookies, even the good ones. For example, your banking and other services that require a cookie for ease of access. It is recommended to leave them disabled unless you really want them gone.
@echo off
deltree /y c:\windows\tempor~1\content.ie5\index.dat>nul
rem deltree /y c:\windows\history\history.ie5\index.dat>nul
rem deltree /y c:\windows\history\history.ie5\mshist~1\index.dat>nul
rem deltree /y c:\windows\cookies\index.dat>nul
cls
exit
Important:
Also for Win98, in mscofig> autoexec.bat> new button, add C:\Delta.bat and move it to the top of the list.