Internet Explorer index.datIn the Microsoft Windows operating system, index.dat is a file used by the Internet Explorer web browser. Index.dat files are hidden files on your computer that contain all tracks of your online activity, where have you been on internet, what sites you visited, list of URLs, files and documents you recently accessed. Index.dat files stored on your computer are obviously a potential privacy threat as they can be found and viewed without your knowledge.

Internet privacy groups contend that the use of index.dat files in the Windows operating system is an invasion of privacy. One of their main complaints is that the index.dat files cannot be deleted or erased easily, because they are always open when Windows (usually the explorer.exe process) is running. Open or “locked” files cannot be deleted in any way when the process using them is running. Also, when this file grows larger than 80MB in size degraded web performance will occur. Even Microsoft has admitted this problem.

Another contention is that the operating system gives a false sense of security. Even after the user has cleared the internet cache folder, temporary internet files folder, and history folder, the index.dat files on Windows continue to store all visited web addresses and cookies and some temporary files. Some people state that this will eventually cause the index.dat files to grow very large, while the average user remains unaware of what is going on.

Index.dat file can be deleted in Safe Mode because it’s not locked. Good thing is, there are software available that will delete these files for less advanced users.

Index.dat Analyzer is a freeware which enables you to view, examine and delete contents in index.dat files. Most of the index.dat viewers that you can find on internet are only that, viewers.. you can’t delete entries within index.dat files with them.

You can view History, Cookies and Cache for current users. It’d be better if this software can browse and choose the index.dat file that you want to view.

Index.dat Analyzer setup file is less than 1MB. Installation is a breeze. To delete all entries in your index.dat file, just right click, select “Check All” and click on the View index.dat delete button.

[ Download Index.dat Analyzer v2.0 ]