Index.dat file - What is Index.dat file?

Index.dat are files hidden on your computer that contain all of the Web sites that you have ever visited. Every URL, and every Web page is listed there. There are multiple Index.dat files in different directories that keep a copy of whatever there is in that folder and they continue keeping those records even after you have deleted the contents of those folders.

These files can be very hard to find and erase. If you are in Windows, even with "Show hidden files and folders" enabled, these files are not visible and cannot be found if you do a search for these files. The reason that these files are so invisible is that they are not just hidden, they have been designated as "system" files. System files and folders are treated differently in DOS and Windows and are effectively cloaked from casual searches.

On a Windows 9x computer these files are located in the following locations:

• \WINDOWS\Cookies\index.dat

• \WINDOWS\History\index.dat

• \WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\index.dat

In Windows 2000 and Windows XP there are several "index.dat" files in these locations:

• \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Cookies\index.dat

• \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\index.dat

• \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\************\index.dat

• \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat

• \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\************\index.dat

Use Free Privacy Eraser to delete index.dat file

You can use Free Privacy Eraser as a index.dat viewer. Select the menu item "File" - "Index.dat Viewer" to view the index.dat file.

Index.dat files are always being used by windows system, you can not delete index.dat files manually, and even you clear Temporary Internet Files on Internet Option of Internet Explorer, it will not delete index.dat files.

Index.dat files will be created automatically by Windows even they are deleted. But you can see the content from "Index.dat Viewer" before clearing them. Then you can clear them and see again from "Index.dat Viewer". You will find the history in those index.dat files had been cleared. But you also can see the files still exist and the file size will be smaller.