[jenny]

Is there a way to get rid of index.dat files in WinXP ? I'm told that XP doesn't support DOS and that without it the file can't be deleted because it is always in use by another program. Thanks.

 

[merlin]

jenny, whats goin on ?
as far as I know, you cant really get rid of index.dat. Windows recreates that if you delete it from within windows, what you can do often is go in C:/documents and settings/ your profile/UserData..... in there you will find index.dat. copy it to the desktop and right click on it...choose open with...choose select a program from the list...
NOW be careful here: select wordpad from the list and make sure that checkbox for "always use this program to open this type of file" is UNCHECKED!!!... when you open this file , you should have a list opened up for you...

the problem is, when you delete whats in the index.dat or if you even remove the file, windows notices that and recreates it on reboot....here is what you can do instead going into index.dat every so often, you can create a purge script : BTW, some of the paths might be different on your pc so if you dont feel comfortable, you might skip this :


1. make sure the path you will use in script is correct
open Internet Explorer, go to Tools, internet Options
under temp. Internet Files click Settings...there will be
a path for temp int. files. most of the time its
C:/documents and settings/your profile/Local settings/temp int. files.
For your index.dat location is usually this :
C:/documents and settings/your profile/UserData/index.dat
again, make sure these paths correspond to where they're located on you machine.


2. Open your wordpad and create a doc. named PURGE.CMD
and you can type in this script, using your paths to the
actual folders :


RD/S/Q "C:\Documents and settings\your username\local settings\Temporary Internet files"
RD/S/Q "C:\Documents and settings\your username\Cookies"
RD/S/Q "C:\Documents and settings\your username\local settings\user data\index.dat" BREAK

summary of above instructions :

RD deletes listing
/S deletes all the sublists
/Q disables the confirmation dialogue so its automated
BREAK allows program to stay open after the script ended.
this gives you option to see any errors that come up...if it runs
smoothly, you can remove BREAK

PLEASE doublecheck all your work and all the settings and PM me or post back if you have any questions, because I wrote this quickly on my break...

HTH

 

[merlin]

Ok, I forgot something...dont want to make the first post any longer... :tongue2:

how to make the script start automatically :
1. store it in your profile (move PURGE.CMD to C:/documents and settings/your user name

2. go to C:/Documents and settings/all users/start menu/
right click on empty space and go to new and choose shortcut
click on browse and locate PURGE.CMD in your profile.

now every time when XP starts, script is executed

BUT..... (insert unavoidable windoze bashing here...)
if windows already opens any of the files you're trying to purge,
you might get an error....

what might work :
move PURGE.CMD to the root , usually C:\
reboot , hit F8 to get boot menu, might be different on your pc...
select "safe mode with command mode" or somehting like that dunno off hand now...
at C:/ type in PURGE.CMD
when done type EXIT
reboot again normally....

if anyone knows how to adjust the boot sequence so you can make sure that those files you're trying to purge are cleaned before windows opens them, feel free to input... :bandit:

 

[TheTechIsIn]

Wow, that was some stuff I didnt even know ...

If your using XP though .. a simpler solution would be to change a registry setting that allows you to delete whatever you want system file or not.

find the key SFCDisable in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinlogon and edit it to hold the value 0xFFFFFF9D

Then you can delete any windows system file you want, whenever you want. Make sure IE is closed though because you still cant delete files that are open.

 

[merlin]

or do what TheTechIsIn suggested...
but hey, I figured this was a tech site so I got technical...can you blame me ?hehehhehehee :tongue2: anyways, I wanna add something here...last thing, I promise....

if you create a file with notepad/wordpad and rename it to purge.cmd it might not actually "change" into cmd...what you can do then is this...
start run type command...dos window comes up (real dos window? hmmm....) then make sure you're at the C:/ and then type edit purge.cmd then, when editor opens, type this in..again insert your own path here :

RD/S/Q "C:\Documents and settings\your username\local settings\Temporary Internet files"
RD/S/Q "C:\Documents and settings\your username\Cookies"
RD/S/Q "C:\Documents and settings\your username\local settings\user data\index.dat" BREAK

then you can do ALT File and Save and exit...purge.cmd should be in C: if you go through and look...then you can edit it from windoze, just right click on it and edit...make sure to save...

ok, thats it no more, I promise....