Index.dat Part III - How do I delete index.dat?
These data files are used by Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer. You cannot delete a file that is in use by a running program. If you feel you need to delete the file, you will have to shutdown all instances of Explorer and IE. This includes applications that may host the Webbrowser control: Outlook, Messenger, IE, Product Studio, Visual Studio, Help, Windows Media Player, etc. Your best bet is just close everything. When you are left with a desktop and a start menu, you will still need to shutdown Explorer. To cleanly shutdown Explorer: Start->Shutdown->CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+Click 'Cancel' (for more info, see this post). You can use Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC,File->Run...) at this point to open a command window. You should be able to go delete the index.dat. I have only tried this on XPSP2, but it should work anywhere.
Comments
Anonymous
November 19, 2004
Just curious... what would happen if you did this, deleted the index.dat files, then created them with an admin account and denied your normal logon account permission to use them?Anonymous
November 20, 2004
And what about this file:
C:Dokumente und EinstellungenAdministratorLokale EinstellungenAnwendungsdatenMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMSIMGSIZ.DAT
It would be cool if you could explain what this is used for!Anonymous
November 23, 2004
With TIF there is an option in the Clear the Cache dialog to clear Offline content too. What exactly is this meant to be - the offline content I mean. Does OE, which is one program that dumps stuff in TIF use the index.dat. What about partially downloaded pages.
Clear Offline Content is the only thing that really clears the cache.Anonymous
November 24, 2004
Also there is a MS reccommended way but it's involved (I did say an MS reccommended way)
Move the TIF folder, Reboot, Move it back. Apparantly when moved it doesn't bring it's baggage with it. I did it once a few years ago. Or it may have been alter the reg, reboot to force a new folder.Anonymous
November 25, 2004
This doesn't work (I was sure I had tried this years ago). Svchost still has the file open. It's the LMHosts, Remote Reg, SSDP, and web client service host.
C:Documents and SettingsDavid CandyLocal SettingsTemporary Internet FilesCo
ntent.IE5>oh /t file index.dat
//
// TIME: 2004-11-26 20:11
// MACHINE: SERENITY
// BUILD: 2600
// OH version: built by: dnsrv_dev(v-smgum)
//
//
000003BC svchost.exe File 0164 Documents and SettingsLocalService
Local SettingsTemporary Internet FilesContent.IE5index.dat
000003BC svchost.exe File 0174 Documents and SettingsLocalService
Cookiesindex.dat
000003BC svchost.exe File 0180 Documents and SettingsLocalService
Local SettingsHistoryHistory.IE5index.dat
000002DC msmsgs.exe File 0448 Documents and SettingsDavid Candy
Local SettingsTemporary Internet FilesContent.IE5index.dat
000002DC msmsgs.exe File 0470 Documents and SettingsDavid Candy
Cookiesindex.dat
000002DC msmsgs.exe File 0478 Documents and SettingsDavid Candy
Local SettingsHistoryHistory.IE5index.dat
00000CA4 AcroRd32.exe File 00d4 Documents and SettingsDavid Candy
Local SettingsTemporary Internet FilesContent.IE5index.dat
00000CA4 AcroRd32.exe File 00f4 Documents and SettingsDavid Candy
Cookiesindex.dat
00000CA4 AcroRd32.exe File 00fc Documents and SettingsDavid Candy
Local SettingsHistoryHistory.IE5index.datAnonymous
November 29, 2004
The comment has been removedAnonymous
November 29, 2004
I am not familiar with MSIMGSIZ.DAT, but a quick search of the code reveals it to be the "Image Size Cache" used by MSHTML.DLL--the HTML rendering engine for IE. This is a completely different data store. It is accessed directly by MSHTML. It is not a WININET.DLL db.Anonymous
November 29, 2004
Neyah--
That may be one of those things you just have to try. My psychic powers are weak this morning (from all the wine I drank last week), but I would guess that all the API calls would fail with E_ACCESSDENIED. I would expect there to be no history and no link coloring and no autocomplete, et al...Anonymous
November 29, 2004
The comment has been removedAnonymous
November 29, 2004
The comment has been removedAnonymous
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