I have 6 hidden cookies in my computer. I know this because when I run my Winpatrol utility it shows me a list of what it can see. Then when I run my a-squared utility it tells me how many cookies it checked. A-squared's list is always six cookies more. I do suspect two of them are Earthlink's NOUID, and their tree_0_state cookies and I've been told they are for tracking and for email spying respectively. Those two do show up in my cookie lists and are easily killed but they come right back. Earthlink knows that and that is why I suspect they are running two, at least, of the hidden cookies. But getting back to my Index.dat files I was looking into my CCleaner this morning to see what it had recorded and I saw, "me\cookies\index.dat", with the "me" being your own name. I wondered what it was so I Googled for it; this is what I found.



Here's what you can do to automatically wipe out the index.dat files on a Windows 2000 Professional or a Windows XP Professional machine during each shutdown. This automatic method does not work on Windows XP Home edition but you will see how to do it manually.

Index.dat files keep a record of every website you have ever visited and the one in the Content.ie5 folder just keeps growing and growing. It's OK to delete the Index.dat files as Windows will created new empty files after rebooting.

Go to http://www.compu-docs.com/indexdat.htm for the full instructions. If you then scoot around that site some you'll find a lot of other goodies. This is not another of those freebie, "too good to be true" sites, it's a legitimate computer business in New Jersey with a great customer service philosophy.

Hope this helps some of you.

Hi Simple Simon

This is a good one, thanks for that. Went through the process last night and all went fine. I had to make new Scripts and Shutdown folders but no drama. I don't have much to hide, but just the fact that everything one does is recorded forever has always got up my nose so I'm a lot happier now.

Anyone else who is concerned about their privacy should also be aware that if they have a Google account, their Search History will also list every web site ever visited. It is entertaining seeing which sites were visited a few years back but it is also disconcerting and mine has been cleared and turned off for quite a while now.

Cheers