Where are located Index.dat files?
The location of index.dat files depends on the version of Windows and whether or not you are
using user profiles. Regardless of Windows version in many cases you can't see or find index.dat file using
Windows Explorer. There is a little file called desktop.ini in each directory where index.dat file
is located. This desktop.ini file forces Windows Explorer to hide index.dat files and to show the contents of
Internet cache or history instead. However you
can use some other file utility and binary (hex) editor to find the files and read their content.
If you have Windows Vita then index.dat files are in these locations
(note that on your PC they can be on other drive instead of drive C):
C:\Users\<username>\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies\index.dat
C:\Users\<username>\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies\Low\index.dat
C:\Users\<username>\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\History.IE5\index.dat
C:\Users\<username>\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\History.IE5\Low\index.dat
C:\Users\<username>\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\History.IE5\index.dat
\MSHistXXXXXXXXXXX\index.dat
C:\Users\<username>\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\History.IE5\Low\index.dat
\MSHistXXXXXXXXXXX\index.dat
C:\Users\<username>\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5
\index.dat
C:\Users\<username>\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Low\Content.IE5
\index.dat
C:\Users\<username>\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\UserData\index.dat
C:\Users\<username>\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\UserData\Low\index.dat
Note, that you will have to change the settings of Windows Explorer to show all kinds of files
(including the protected system files) in order to access these folders.
If you have Windows XP or Windows 2000 then index.dat files are in these locations
(note that on your PC they can be on other drive instead of drive C):
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Cookies\index.dat
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\index.dat
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\History\History.IE5
\MSHistXXXXXXXXXXX\index.dat
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5
\index.dat
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\UserData\index.dat
If you have only one user account on Windows XP or Windows 2000 then replace <username>
with Administrator to get the paths of all index.dat files.
If you have Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows
NT or Windows 95 then index.dat files are in these locations:
C:\Windows\Cookies\index.dat
C:\Windows\History\index.dat
C:\Windows\History\MSHistXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\index.dat (XXXX are some digits)
C:\Windows\History\History.IE5\index.dat
C:\Windows\History\History.IE5\MSHistXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\index.dat
C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\index.dat (only in Internet Explorer 4.x)
C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat
C:\Windows\UserData\index.dat
C:\Windows\Profiles\<username>\Cookies\index.dat
C:\Windows\Profiles\<username>\History\index.dat
C:\Windows\Profiles\<username>\History\MSHistXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\index.dat
C:\Windows\Profiles\<username>\History\History.IE5\index.dat
C:\Windows\Profiles\<username>\History\History.IE5\MSHistXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\index.dat
C:\Windows\Profiles\<username>\Temporary Internet Files\index.dat (only in IE 4.x)
C:\Windows\Profiles\<username>\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat
C:\Windows\Profiles\<username>\UserData\index.dat
Note that on your computer the Windows directory may not be C:\Windows but some other directory.
If you don't have Profiles directory in you Windows directory don't worry - this just means that
you are not using user profiles. It is also possible that you don't have UserData subdirectories.
To learn more about UserData records click here.
You can use Mil Shield to
clean the content of index.dat files along with history, cookies, cache and many other tracks.
|
|
|
|
|
3.10 MB - 20 sec with broadband or 7 minutes with dial-up link
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 
