Mil Shield 9.0 Frequently Asked Questions

General questions

Why do I need Mil Shield? What are cookies? What are UserData records? What is Index.dat file? What is the Internet cache? What are the temporary internet files?

Price: $29.90 / €24.90 / £19.90 The price includes the time unlimited full version of Mil Shield 9.0 PLUS: Online support for two years. Free upgrades for one year.

Payment and shipment

Why do I need Mil Shield?

Your computer records extensive information about what you have done, what documents, pictures or video files you have opened and which web sites you have visited. This means that virtually anyone can see what you have been doing on your computer, which raises severe privacy concerns.

Cleaning up the history of your activities completely and safely is impossible without specialized program because most of the tracks are not visible by any standard means and can’t be removed manually. This process must be performed every time you use your computer. Mil Shield automates this process while giving you the opportunity to choose the types of tracks that you want to clean. Mil Shield runs invisibly in the background and cleans up the tracks whenever you want.

What are cookies?

Some Web sites store information in a small text file on your computer. This file is called cookie. Cookies are privacy threat because they can contain sensitive information like your name and password for web mailboxes, password-protected sites, etc. Even if the cookies don’t contain such information they clearly show that you visited the sites from which they came. Of course they have some advantages: you don’t need to enter you user information every time when you visit a site that needs your user profile.

In Internet Explorer 5.0 and later there is yet another way that some new Internet sites use to store information about you – it is called UserData records. Mil Shield cleans both cookies and UserData records.

If you delete all cookies you will have to enter your user name, password and other details every time when you visit a web site that needs registration. So it comes down to a choice between privacy and convenience of Web browsing. With Mil Shield you don’t have to make this choice. You can turn off the cleaning for the cookies from sites that don’t contain any sensitive information or are not considered forbidden in your environment.

Mil Shield deletes not only the cookie files but also the cookie records from the Index.dat files.

What are UserData records?

UserData records are very similar to cookies. Just like the cookies they are used by some Web sites to store information about you on your computer and are privacy threat because they can contain sensitive information like your name and password for web mailboxes, password-protected sites, etc.

The primary difference between cookies and UserData records is that the stored information in UserData records can be much larger (up to 128 KB per record). UserData records are stored in yet another Index.dat file in a hidden Windows directory. Only Internet Explorer 5 and later support UserData records.

Mil Shield cleans both cookies and UserData records.

What is Index.dat file?

Index.dat files are cache files used by Internet Explorer. When you visit a Web page, Internet Explorer saves the address of the page, time of visiting and even the HTTP request for this page in few different Index.dat files. The cookie names, UserData records sources and much other information is also stored in the Index.dat files. Later this information is not deleted even if you delete History and temporary Internet files folders content. Everyone can see the contents of these files with a binary editor program, which exposes all tracks of your browsing.

These files can’t be found with regular file search and even if you find them, you can’t delete them because they are used by Windows all the time. Only specialized program like Mil Shield can delete the contents of these files.

If you have Internet Explorer 3.x installed then you have mm256.dat and mm2048.dat files. They are fairly similar to the Index.dat files. If you want to learn more about where are located index.dat files, what is their content and how can you erase them, read the article Deleting index.dat files.

What is the Internet cache?

Internet cache is just another name for the temporary Internet files. Click here to learn about them.

What are the temporary internet files?

The Temporary Internet Files folder is the location on your hard disk where Web pages and files (such as pictures) are stored as you view them. This speeds up the display of pages you frequently visit or have already seen, because Internet Explorer can open them from your hard disk instead of from the Web. Internet files are also stored on your computer when you make Web pages available for offline browsing. You can view these files without being connected to the Internet.

Unfortunately besides the speedup and ability to see the files without being connected to the Internet you have a major privacy problem with these files because virtually everyone can see some very personal information. If you delete these files then loading of some Internet pages will be much slower but your privacy will be protected. With Mil Shield you don’t have to make a choice between speed of the browsing and your privacy. You can turn off the cleaning only for the sites that don’t contain any sensitive information or are not considered forbidden in your environment.

Which kinds of tracks are cleaned by Mil Shield?

Web browsing tracks:

• All Index.dat files (including the new index.dat files on Internet Explorer 8 and 9: PrivacIE, TldCache and CompatCache) and SuggestedSites.dat file.
• Temporary Internet files (a.k.a. Internet cache).
• Cookies.
• UserData records, DOM storage and HTML5 databases.
• All evercookies in all supported browsers.
• Browse history records.
• Compact (vacuum) SQLite databases in Firefox and Chrome.
• IE image sizes cache (MSIMGSIZ.dat files).
• IE anti-phishing filter cache.
• Restores IE search hooks to defaults.
• AutoComplete forms and passwords.
• Forms history data.
• Download history.
• Most recently used download folder.
• Restores your home page (on IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome) and search page (on IE and Firefox).
• Search history
• Saved passwords.
• Crash session recovery info.
• Flash cookies (local shared objects).
• Suports multiple browser profiles for Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Avant.
• The following toolbars for Internet Explorer: Google Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar, ICQ Toolbar, Bing Toolbar, Windows Live Toolbar (and the older MSN toolbar), AOL Toolbar, IE7Pro add-on (crash session recovery info) and MyWaySearch PopSwatter Toolbar.
• The following toolbars for Firefox: Google Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar, AOL Toolbar.

Windows offline tracks:

• Recent documents history.
• Most recently used (MRU) folders records of the Windows shell.
• List of most recently opened files of common file dialogs.
• Windows 7 Explorer typed paths history.
• File and computer search history of the Windows shell
• Start menu Run history.
• Start menu most frequently used (MFU) programs list (the list in the left part of Windows Start menu).
• All UserAssist usage information.
• Recycle Bin at low level (not only through the Windows shell).
• Windows temporary files.
• Windows clipboard.
• Disable the highlighting of the new programs in Start menu.
• Windows Vista thumbnails cache.
• Internet passwords (WinInet cache credentials).
• Windows DNS cache.
• Active Setup temp folders.
• Content Indexer catalog.
• Hibernation file.
• Memory dump files.
• Orphan ChkDsk file fragments.
• Setup log files.
• System error minidump files.
• Windows Error Reporting archive files.
• Windows Error Reporting queue files.
• Regedit history.
• Windows saved searches (.search-ms files).
• Clear Windows page file on shutdown

Tracks of some popular applications:

• Media Players: Adobe Flash Professional, Anole Media Player, Any Video Converter, Applian Flv Player, Avant DVDDivX Player, Avi Previewer, ATP Player, BSplayer, Core Player, Corel Video Studio Pro, Cyberlink Power Director, Debug Mode Wax, DivX Player, Easy Video Converter, Elecard MPEG Player, Flash Player Pro, Flv Player, Free iPod Video Converter, Free YouTube to MP3 Converter, Free Flv Converter, GOM Player, Haihaisoft Universal Player, KMPlayer, MPlayer, Media Player Classic, Movie Magician, Need4 Video Converter, Pazera Free Flv to Avi Converter, PowerDVD, Power2Show Media Player, QuickTime, RealPlayer, Riva Flv Player, TubePlay, VLC Player, WinDVD, Winamp, Windows Media Player, Windows Movie Maker, Xilisoft video Converter, Zoom Player.
• Image Utilities: 3D Photo Browser, Able Image Browser, ACDSee, AD Picture Viewer, Adobe ImageReady, Axialis IconWorkshop, Concept Draw, Corel Paint Shop Pro, FastStone ImageViewer, First Impression, Irfan View, Markosoft Image Viewer, Memories On Tv, Nikon View, MS Paint, MS Photo Editor, Paint.NET, Panorama Composer, Photo Manager, Photo Scape, Photo Watermark Professional, Photolightning, PhotoPhilia, Photoshop Album, Photoshop Elements, Picasa, Polyview, Retouch Pilot, Sib Image Viewer, Slide Show Pilot, Snagit, SnapTouch, SWiSH, Widdbit Viewer.
• Download Utilities: BitComet, CuteFTP, Download Accelerator (DAP), eMule, FlashGet, Free Download Manager, Fresh Download, GetRight, LeechGet, Net Vampire, Orbit Downloader, UltraGet Video Downloader, VDownloader, Vuze, YouTube Downloader.
• Archivers: 7-Zip, IsoBuster, IZArc, PicoZip, Power Archiver, TUGZip, WinAce, WinRAR, WinZip.
• Office Programs: Access Snapshot Viewer, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader, Cute PDF, Foxit Reader, Macromedia Homesite, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft OneNote, MS Works, OpenOffice, Outlook Express, PDF Creator, TextPad, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, WordPad.
• Other programs: AceHTML, Alcohol 120, Google Deskbar, Google Desktop, Google Earth, ImgBurn, Microsoft Management Console, Nero Burning ROM, Offline Explorer Pro, PowerISO, Remote Desktop, Skype, SpyBot Search & Destroy, Tivo Desktop, Virtual Dub, WebZip, WebSite eXtractor, WinIso, WinWSD WebSite Downloader, XMLSpy.

Can I keep some of my cookies, history records and temporary internet files?

Yes, you can.

Many of privacy threats come from Internet Explorer features that are good and convenient: Internet cache speeds up the browsing, cookies and UserData records spares you the process of entering your user information over and over again, etc.

Another good reason to keep some of the online browsing tracks is to avoid being suspicious for someone with access to your PC. Indeed it is very suspicious to have no history records, no cookies and no temporary Internet files. It is good idea to leave some online tracks from respected and innocently looking sites.

Fortunately with Mil Shield you don’t have to give up all this advantages in order to be safe. Mil Shield implements selective cleaning of temporary Internet files, cookies, UserData records and history. Immediately after installation Mil Shield makes no assumptions about which are the sites that you consider safe and cleans all tracks at once. Later you can define unlimited number of sites as trusted and they will be spared while Mil Shield cleans.

You have fine control about which tracks for which trusted site will be protected during cleanup. For example you can protect yahoo.com from deleting of its temporary Internet files in order to speed up loading of the site but you don’t have to keep the cookies that came from yahoo.com if you have a mail account or you enter any other personal information in this site.

How often do I need to run Mil Shield in order to protect my privacy?

The short answer is: as often as you can. But everyday cleaning of the tracks is not exactly the thing that most of us prefer to do with our spare time. Therefore Mil Shield offers the possibility to schedule automatic cleaning in one of these situations or any combination of them:

• When user logs on (when Windows starts).
• When user logs off (when Windows shuts down).
• When all open windows of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome are closed.

Does Mil Shield clean Firefox tracks?

All versions of Mil Shield starting from 4.0 support Mozilla Firefox browser. For a better security, Mil Shield shreds all Firefox tracks before deleting them in order to make them irrecoverable. All kinds of Firefox tracks are cleaned:

• Firefox cache.
• Firefox cookies
• Firefox history.
• Firefox forms history (similar to AutoComplete in Internet Explorer).
• Firefox Search Bar history.
• Firefox downloads history.
• Firefox last donwload folder.
• Firefox start and search pages.
• Firefox saved passwords.

Note that Firefox saved passwords are not cleaned by default - you must turn on the corresponding option in the settings of Mil Shield.

Does Mil Shield clean Opera tracks?

All versions of Mil Shield starting from 6.2 support Opera browser. For a better security, Mil Shield shreds all Opera tracks before deleting them in order to make them irrecoverable.

Does Mil Shield clean Apple Safari for Windows tracks?

All versions of Mil Shield starting from 6.2 support Apple Safari browser. For a better security, Mil Shield shreds all Safari tracks before deleting them in order to make them irrecoverable.

Does Mil Shield clean Google Chrome tracks?

All versions of Mil Shield starting from 6.5 support Google Chrome browser. For a better security, Mil Shield shreds all Google Chrome tracks before deleting them in order to make them irrecoverable.

Can I run Mil Shield from command line, from Task Scheduler or from a batch script?

Yes, you can. There is a command-line utility (ShieldAgent.exe) that starts a silent cleanup (without any user interface or user interaction). You can run ShieldAgent.exe from command line, from Windows Task Scheduler, from batch scripts, from backup programs, etc.

ShieldAgent.exe is very useful in the following cases:

• Making scheduled backups. When a system backup is made automatically then you can include call to ShieldAgent.exe in your backup script (or alternatively you can schedule ShieldAgent.exe to run before the backup begins).
• Cleaning many computers after user activity. In the computer classrooms or Internet clubs the controlled environment is desirable but hard to achieve. You can schedule a cleanup once a day (or when the current course ends) using ShieldAgent.exe. This will ensure that the computer environment of the new users don’t have any tracks left from the previous group of users (or students).
• Remote cleaning of computer tracks. Because ShieldAgent.exe command-line program it can be run from all kinds of remote administration programs.

To learn more about ShieldAgent.exe open the Mil Shield help and read the chapter Scheduling cleanups in How to use Mil Shield category.

What if I am not the only person that uses my PC?

The best solution is to create a separate user account (also known as user profile in Windows 95, 98 and ME) for each user. Then you can install Mil Shield only in your user account and it can be configured to clean only the tracks of this user account without deleting the tracks of the other user accounts. It is even possible to clean the tracks of all user accounts at once if this is what is needed.

There is a special user account in each computer that is called default user account. If you are using Windows 95, 98 or ME then you are logging in the default user account each time when you are not entering a user name and password at computer logon dialog. The default user account preserves tracks that were recorded before creation of user profiles. Even worse - this user account serves as template when a new user account is created so you could end up with multiple copies of your tracks. Therefore Mil Shield allows you to clean not only current user account but also the default user account.

Can I install Mil Shield in more than one user account?

Yes, you can. If you computer has user accounts (also known as user profiles) then you can install Mil Shield either on all user accounts or only in your user account. If you choose to install Mil Shield only in your user account then it will not be visible under other user accounts.

You can use Mil Shield in more than one account even if you are using Terminal Services or Fast User Switching. The program can be run simultaneously under two or more terminal sessions.

What do I need to install and use Mil Shield?

Not much. You need to download and install Mil Shield, which is very easy. Then you can start using it right away. Minimal system requirements are rather low: you need Windows 95 or higher, Internet Explorer 3 or higher and 4 MB free disk space (8 MB during the installation).

NOTE: If you are using Windows 95 or Windows NT 4, you will have to download Mil Shield 5.0 from here. The versions above 5.0 are not compatible with Windows 95 and Windows NT 4 because of the changes in the Microsoft development tools.

On Windows NT, 2000, XP or Vista you must install the program from an account with administrative rights because Windows doesn’t allow program installations from other user accounts. If you are using XP and don’t have a clue what are administrative rights, don’t worry – your account will probably do it. If you have any problems with installation process don’t hesitate to contact our support team at support@milincorporated.com.

Mil Shield setup gave me error while trying to install it on Windows 95 or Windows NT 4

If you are using Windows 95 or Windows NT 4, you will have to download Mil Shield 5.0 from here. The versions above 5.0 are not compatible with Windows 95 and Windows NT 4 because of the changes in the Microsoft development tools.

What are the minimal system requirements?

Minimal hardware requirements are: 5 MB free hard disk space (10 MB temporarily during the installation). Graphics mode: at least 800x600 pixels at HiColor (16-bit color) or TrueColor (24- or 32-bit color). Minimal software requirements are: Microsoft Windows 10, 8 or 7 (32- or 64-bit), Windows Vista (32- or 64-bit), and Windows XP (32- or 64-bit). The program also supports Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, Me, 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 (see the notes bellow). Microsoft Edge (the new browser of Windows 10). Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 or lower version (all the way down to IE 3). Supports Google Chrome 47 or lower version. Supports Mozilla Firefox 43 or lower version (all the way down to Firefox 1.x). Supports Opera 21 or lower version. Supports Apple Safari 5.1.7 or lower version (all the way down to Safari 3.1). Supports Chromium, Chrome Canary, ChromePlus, SRWare Iron and Comodo Dragon browsers. Supports Avant browser.

NOTE: If you are using Windows 2000, you will have to download Mil Shield 7.9 from here. The versions above 7.9 are not compatible with Windows 2000. NOTE: If you are using Windows 98 or Windows ME, you will have to download Mil Shield 6.2 from here. The versions above 6.2 are not compatible with Windows 98 and Windows ME. NOTE: If you are using Windows 95 or Windows NT 4, you will have to download Mil Shield 5.0 from here. The versions above 5.0 are not compatible with Windows 95 and Windows NT 4 because of the changes in the Microsoft development tools.

How to buy Mil Shield?

There are few different ways to buy Mil Shield including online payment, telephone or fax order, etc. Just click here and follow the instructions that will appear on your screen.

For telephone order, click here and follow the instructions that will appear on your screen.

If you have the trial version of the program installed then you need to click the Buy Now! button and then follow the instructions.

I can not load the Mil Shield order page in Internet Explorer browser

In some of the versions of Internet Explorer before 5.5 there is only 40-bit encrpytion support. As most of the modern web sites require 128-bit encryption, you have to upgrade the encryption support of Internet Explorer to be able to open the order page of Mil Shield. To do this, go to this page on Microsoft site to download and install the appropriate encryption update for your version of Internet Explorer and Windows.

If you have any problems or questions, do not hesitate to write to sales@milincorporated.com.

Can I try Mil Shield for free?

Certainly. Mil Shield is shareware, which means that it can be downloaded and installed for free. You may evaluate Mil Shield for a limited period of time (just over 3 weeks) to decide if it suits your needs and you want to purchase it. After this period is over the program will stop working until you buy it.

Click here to download the free trial version of Mil Shield.

Do I have to pay every year?

No. Once you buy the program, you will receive license to use it for unlimited time. One year is the period in which you can download and install the new versions of the program for free. But even after the end of this one year period you can continue to use the program as before.

What will I receive after purchase?

If you buy the program, you receive the following things:

• Registration code, which you will use to unlock the trial version of the program.
• License to use the program for unlimited time. You can transfer the program to your new PC, if you change your PC and you can use the program on all of YOUR computers but you CAN NOT install it on the computers of your neighbors, friends, coworkers, etc.
• Right to upgrade free of charge with all new releases of the program for one year after the purchase. You will be able to get the new versions of Mil Shield that are released within one year of the purchase. We are releasing new versions of the program each month or so and we are determined to incorporate support for all new technologies that will become widespread.
• Right to get e-mail support for two years after the purchase.
• Extended download service for 4 years after the purchase. This means that you can download your version of the program for at least 4 years after the purchase in case that you have lost the installation package.

Can I get Mil Shield delivered on CD-ROM?

We are not offering Mil Shield for delivery with CD-ROM because we are offering free of charge an extended download service - you can download each version of the program for at least 4 years after the purchase (and in fact we are not planning to limit this period just to 4 years but our legal department insists to put a reasonable number of years instead of "forever").

We are releasing new versions of the program approximately each month or so and we are determined to incorporate support for all new technologies that will become widespread. These frequent releases also make the CD-ROM delivery option inconvenient and without much value. In fact we were offering this option in the past but we have received complains from our clients that they feel bad about paying additional 10-15 USD for CD-ROM delivery and their CD-ROM version of Mil Shield becomes obsolete in just one month.

Is the online payment safe?

Mil Incorporated allows products to be securely registered or purchased with a credit card over the Internet. All transactions are protected by an extremely high level of encryption (highest allowed by U.S. law).

For those who still have concerns about on-line credit card transactions, we provide other options. For more information see the answer of the question below.

What if I don't want to purchase online?

Mil Incorporated wants its customers' shopping experience to be enjoyable and safe. For those who have concerns about on-line credit card transactions, we also provide the ability for customers to purchase by toll-free phone (only toll-free for U.S. customers) via several payment options including check, credit card, money order or Eurocheque.

For more information how to order with these alternative payment methods look at the product ordering page (for Mil Shield 9.0 click here).

Can I install the software on more than one computer?

You can use the program on all of YOUR computers but you CAN NOT install it on the computers of your neighbors, friends, coworkers, etc. If the program is purchased not for individual but for a company, one license is needed for each computer.

Go to Mil Shield 9.0 main page