OT: Temporary Internet Files

[Dave Labrecque]

It has EVERYTHING to do with it!! Wow, that's reason enough for me to switch to Firefox. Getting rid of the Index.dat in IE is truly a nightmare. Just using the delete buttons in IE|Tools|Internet Options|General will NOT delete the Index.dat file. AFAIK, it MUST be done in DOS.

Ira

OK... I'm goin' in. Nobody move...

[DominicPerry]

IE will remember things using integrated windows authentication, FF won't cos it can't get a handle on the same link. The stuff which FF is remembering will be cookie based, which is a bit safer.
It's fundamentally a bad idea to let IE remember your password for banking sites. Just don't do it.

Dominic

[Dave Labrecque]

Weird... in DOS I can see two folders and no files in that (Temporary Internet Files) folder!

Looks like the guilty folder is called "OLK1A2". I ran a defrag report and operation on my C: drive last night, and it told me the same folder contains a 1.19 GB file (which I recognize as an old Outlook PST file that I probably restored from my archives a while back -- so why would it end up in here?).

I also recognize the folder "OLK1A2" as the path where Word directs me when I'm trying to save a Word doc that I've opened as an email attachment (in Outlook 2000). Interestingly, for the last few weeks, when I try to do that save operation, I see that folder as the parent in the Save dialog, and when I try to browse to a different folder on my system, Word locks up for several seconds before letting me re-direct the path and do the save.

Anywho... I use the DEL command in DOS, and guess what...

I get a list of about 12 DOC and HTM files for which "access is denied". Lovely. Oh, but wait! A check back in Windows Explorer shows that the Temporary Inernet Files folder has shrunk from 1.4 GB down to 130 MB. Whoo hoo! Got most of it. Sure would be nice if I could have a gander at that 130 MB worth of files, though.

OK... I had my gander. Through the DOS window. With the right command I can see all the files. Just not sure how to delete them. One at a time? No thanks. Then I tried del *.*. No workie.

OK... went into IE and deleted Temporary Internet Files. That got 'em! Still showing about 12 MB in the Temporary Internet Files folder. Probably that remaining "OLK1A2" stuff. Word docs and HTM files. I guess I'll give up... for now.

Thanks everyone for your help! 'specially Ian (who got me poking around inside IE options) and Ira (who sent me DOS-ward).

What a great place!

[Dave Labrecque]

IE will remember things using integrated windows authentication, FF won't cos it can't get a handle on the same link. The stuff which FF is remembering will be cookie based, which is a bit safer.
It's fundamentally a bad idea to let IE remember your password for banking sites. Just don't do it.

Dominic

Really? Even with zillion-bit encryption and all?

[Dave Labrecque]

Inside IE
Tools -> Internet Options -> Delete Files.

This gets rid of most of the bulky stuff, but not the .dat file.
You can also elect to delete the cookies - if you do, you will have to log back into websites which you previously logged into, like this one!

Dominic

That got it, thanks, Dominic. Saw your message too late, but, thanks just the same.

[Dave Labrecque]

It's not that difficult. After reading your post I realized I left my cookie jar open, so I cleared all. Then I set FF to keep cookies "until they expire".

Then I went to the obvious sites that need cookies, primarily my financial sites, SS, Digi and a few others I visit regularly. Once those cookies were in the jar, I switched to "delete when I close FF"

Took about five minutes, and I should be good until I stumble on something I forgot.

Odd that BofA gives you problems. I have no problems with any of my financial sites using FF.

mark

mark

I'll try it all again. Maybe I'll learn something new this time. I only a couple days ago figured out the thing about setting them to "until they expire" first, then resetting to "until I close FF". I'm a little slow...

[DominicPerry]

Really? Even with zillion-bit encryption and all?

To be honest, most of the security holes have been sorted now but.....
One of the principles behind the early browsers was the concept of the 'sandbox' - the idea was that the browser was walled off from the OS. Fine for viewing things, but quickly limiting. So, when you go to attach a file in hotmail (or in the SAW forum ), you have to link the browser to the OS in order to be able to search your local machine's hard disk. In a true 'sandbox', this is not possible. Some of these links are part of the browser, some part of the OS, sometimes they rely on plug-in etc. The problem is that they are not always watertight and they can be used in the wrong direction, to extract data from your machine via the browser. As I say, there's not much to worry about these days, but as a principle, it's best if you know what these links are and when they are being used and when they are being given authority to move data around. The problem with IE is that it is so tightly integrated with the OS that it doesn't let on what it is doing. Firefox, Opera etc have to function across a discrete wall - this gives them and consequently you, move control over what is being passed around. Encryption doesn't come in to it.
I've spent most of the last 10 years working in IT for companies which do work for the MoD - the UK version of the DoD. I don't understand all the ins and outs, I just know about a lot of the principles involved in secure systems. One of them is "Don't store passwords on the device that you use to access the system which uses the password". Obvious really.

Dominic

[Tree Leopard]

Clean Disk Security
http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/clndisk.html

One the best cleaning apps out there. Will erase all the temp files and IE index.dat files you want. (the files will only appear "cleaned" after your next boot).

CCleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/

A v.good freeware cleaner. DL the portable version and create a shortcut for desktop.

Look through the options and configure to suit. Make it habit to run these at the end of the working day / before you power down. You should notice a small boost in performance.

Andre

[Ian Alexander]

[snip]
Looks like the guilty folder is called "OLK1A2". I ran a defrag report and operation on my C: drive last night, and it told me the same folder contains a 1.19 GB file (which I recognize as an old Outlook PST file that I probably restored from my archives a while back -- so why would it end up in here?).

I also recognize the folder "OLK1A2" as the path where Word directs me when I'm trying to save a Word doc that I've opened as an email attachment (in Outlook 2000). Interestingly, for the last few weeks, when I try to do that save operation, I see that folder as the parent in the Save dialog, and when I try to browse to a different folder on my system, Word locks up for several seconds before letting me re-direct the path and do the save.
[snip]
Thanks everyone for your help! 'specially Ian (who got me poking around inside IE options) and Ira (who sent me DOS-ward).

What a great place!

I have never used Outlook or Outlook Express, but my mom did. She asked me to help her find some attachments others had sent her. I was astonished to find that the attachments in OE were not saved as individual files anywhere, but the entire IN box, with attachments imbedded, was ONE GARGANTUAN FILE. So you can't use an attachment in another app without opening OE and the message it was attached to. Incredibly kludgy. I moved mom to Eudora, which asks on install where you want things to go. To bad Qualcomm quit developing it. I'll use the last version until it won't work anymore. Unless I find Cary's Thunderbird to have appeal.

Glad you got some relief from IE, Dave.

[Richard Rupert]

\

I use FF mostly, IE, occasionally, as needed for certain sites. My Bank (Bank of America) has told me on more than one occasion that the don't support FireFox. It still works in FF so far as I can tell, but it doesn't remember my user ID. IE does, so I favor it.

It's odd how my user ID is remembered by IE and not FF for some sites, but the opposite is true for other sites. I just don't want to take the time to play with cookies and stuff for each of these occurrences. So, I suffer IE now and again.

Dave,

I don't know if it would affect your ID memory issue, but you can add an "extension" in Firefox to make a page display as it would in IE by left clicking the Firefox icon in the lower right corner of the Firefox browser (after installing the extension)... maybe worth a try. You can read about and download the extension here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

Installed extensions are accessible/manageable by clicking (in your Firefox browser) Tools>Add ons, then click the Extensions tab.

I have a page on my own (self-built) website that will not display properly in Firefox, but switching the rendering engine this way will correct the display. A workaround, to be sure...