intanet

Hi,
I just found out about the files that Microsoft uses to store information which leave tracks behind of internet activities even after you clear your IE history and cookies cache. Anyhow, I found a utility that deletes them but I seem to loose my System Restore points. It wipes them clean and I am left with none. Before I downloaded this utility I deleted the index.dat manually following some web sites instructions and the same thing happened. All System REstore points gone. Is index.dat and System restore somehow connected? Or is it just Microsoft's revenge for me finding the files and deleting them? Heh heh.
Thanks for your help.
Angie

nickster_uk

Can't see the link myself...what utility are you referring to?

I delete my index.dat's on a daily basis and it has no knock on effects to other programs. However, I don't use System Restore anymore but when I did the points were active after index.dat deletion but it all depends on how you delete them. I use batch files to do it but there are other ways such as logging off and onto another admin account then browsing to your profile and deleting them plus tools such as Unlocker and/or moveonboot can do it...usually by a reboot or restarting the explorer.exe shell.

intanet

Thanks for your reply Nickster. I use Index.dat Suite which also uses a batch file to remove them. And yeah, that's how I used to do it before, by signing in as another adminstrator and removing them. I even create restore points before hand to see if they get removed after the removal of index.dat files and after few boot ups the restore points are gone. I have a huge hard drive and System restore is set at maximum to allow for lots of restore points. If it's not the removal of the index.dat files, any ideas as to what could it be removing the restore points?

nickster_uk

Hmmm...are you using cleanmgr.exe on a scheduled basis as that can be used to remove all but your last restore point.

As far as i'm aware, third party programs should not be allowed to access the System Restore folder and the only way you can access it is to give yourself full permissions to do so.

intanet

If cleanmgr.exe is the Windows cleaner then, no, I don't use it. I use something called: ATF cleaner. It cleans Windows Temp files, Temp internet files, Recycle bin, Java, Prefetch, Cookies, History, All user Temp.
So, you don't use System Restore anymore. Do you use that Disk Image software. I was reading about it the other day and they said it is better that SR. If so, what would you suggest as a good one to use? Thanks.

nickster_uk

It's all down to personal preference. I use Acronis True Image and it has never let me down...in fact, it has saved my bacon on countless times.

SR does have its uses though, and is a very good way of correcting problems but many of those problems can be avoided/fixed without the need to use it but that all depends on how confident you are with Windows. I wouldn't recommend not using it if you didn't have an alternative method of recovery.

At present, I back up regular images of XP Pro SP2 and Vista to different hard drives and DVD's so can completely disable SR on both XP and Vista and in the process free up a lot of hdd space and some resources too.

intanet

Thanks for the info. Nickster. I'll look into it.

nickster_uk

No probs...if you need any more help, just let us know

intanet

Hum??? I have been removing the index.dat files for the past few days and, like you said, no prob with System Restore. Here's what I'm considering.... I just finished a free 30 day trial with JV16 so I haven't been able to use it for the past few days. I was using it quite frequently for that month previous. Could it be JV16 was removing system restore points? Or rather, I should say, could it be the way I used JV16? It's a great registry cleaner and more. But what I'm thinking is, if I used their registery cleaner a bit carelessly, I could have been removing registry entries that affected System Restore. Just fishing.