if the history in the browser is deleted is there any other way i can check wot the actiovity has been on my laptop... sure sum1's been using it?

If autocomplete is still on, you may be in with a chance, but it'll take a bit of messing about ;-)

temporary internet files sort by date and then u will know if some one has been on your laptop....

You could also run Network Magic, the pro version is free for 7 days:

http://www.networkmagic.com/

It will email you all internet activity on your computer. Just testing it out myself, its $49.99 for an 8 pc licence, which doesn't seem that steep, thinking of buying and sticking on my relative's computers

you could check the index.dat file in the history folder,
this tracks where you've been visiting and no amount of clearing the history or the cache will clear up this file.

snip from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index.dat

.... 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 the 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.



google for IE History index.dat

Heres some info about it:
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1827

some info regarding the file:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322916



but anyway, point being, the sites visited, if visited in IE, should still be logged in there, even if the history/cache etc have been cleared completely. Finding the correct index.dat (there are many) is left as an excersie for the reader.

If you're using Internet Explorer there is a hidden file called index.dat that records all internet history and isn't cleared when the Internet history is. If you Google for "index.dat viewer" you'll find some programs that pupport to allow you to view the contents but I couldn't vouch for the validity of any of them.

Edit: Beaten to it

you could check the index.dat file in the history folder,
this tracks where you've been visiting and no amount of clearing the history or the cache will clear up this file.

snip from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index.dat

.... 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 the 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.



google for IE History index.dat

Heres some info about it:
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1827

some info regarding the file:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322916



but anyway, point being, the sites visited, if visited in IE, should still be logged in there, even if the history/cache etc have been cleared completely. Finding the correct index.dat (there are many) is left as an excersie for the reader.


So how would you delete this file?
Is it just a case of locating it, opening it, deleting the contents, etc? Or is it protected?

to delete them, dunno - i don't use IE so i've not had the need, but a quick google (like you could have done) turned up this.

http://www.acesoft.net/delete_index.dat_files.htm

...although that actually seems to want you to use some 3rd party app,
i believe this is because windows will lock the index.dat file so you can't edit it while windows is running. I suspect i'd just boot up linux from a linux liveCD (if i didn't already have a native linux install on the machine) or something and remove the file / empty it that way, but honestly, i'd just google the question rather than waiting for people to spell it out here.

Great program! It deleted all the files and has also created loads more room on the hard drive on my laptop! Thanks for that!

you could check the index.dat file in the history folder,this tracks where you've been visiting and no amount of clearing the history or the cache will clear up this file.You can delete this file when the OS isnt running (from DOS (Or @ startup before the OS starts))

Here is an INDEX.DAT viewer: http://www.pointstone.com/products/index.dat-Viewer (Zip file which is kewl (No installing or 'setup' BS))

(pointstone total privacy 5) will take care of everything.

Network Magic is close to useless, got my first email about internet activity today and it only monitors IE.

(pointstone total privacy 5) will take care of everything.Nice to see you posting :)



I cant believe how much stuff is in my INDEX.DAT files!! (It has to be in my "win386.swp" file as i have deleted the index.dat files recently and some of the stuff listed is MANY MONTHS OLD!!

Question: Can i delete the swap file?? (Win386.swp) from dos??

It will just be recreated right??

The swap file has relevant program information which includes the program context, which is necessary to return control to the program. Deleting the swap between restarts probably won't cause any trouble. But doing it while you're running programs probably will cause exceptions and the program might freeze/crash. Consider also that, depending on which programs (and how many) you're running, the swap file can increase in size pretty fast, so deleting at startup may be of no use. Also, if you use the space on the swap file for something else, you might easily start getting warnings like "low disk space" or "low on virtual memory".

I just cant believe how many URLs are in my histories!!

They cant all be in the INDEX.DAT files as i delete them from DOS every week or so.. (Some sites i havent been to in months)

And you cannot delete the swap file while windows is running,the file is in use...

Get any tweaking software for Windows (ie Tune Up Utilities, which does a free 30 day trial), and you can tell it to delete page file at shutdown, which I assume means that you can do it with a registry change.

It makes shutting down take about 300% longer though

to delete them, dunno - i don't use IE so i've not had the need, but a quick google (like you could have done) turned up this.

http://www.acesoft.net/delete_index.dat_files.htm

...although that actually seems to want you to use some 3rd party app,
i believe this is because windows will lock the index.dat file so you can't edit it while windows is running. I suspect i'd just boot up linux from a linux liveCD (if i didn't already have a native linux install on the machine) or something and remove the file / empty it that way, but honestly, i'd just google the question rather than waiting for people to spell it out here.

Doesn't that just overwrite the information rather than removing it?

I figured out how to easily delete my index.dat files (Even if it doesnt delete from dos (Which is what was happening (They were getting stuck)))

I had 420 entries before.....

I checked the index files on the XP we have upstairs and there are 5150 entries!! (I dont know the first thing about XP really so i wasnt gonna try and remove the files)

if the history in the browser is deleted is there any other way i can check wot the actiovity has been on my laptop... sure sum1's been using it?

sad!!!!!!!!!!!!

sad!!!!!!!!!!!!

Constructive post!

I'm sure you'd love someone to be using YOUR property without YOUR permission, for activities unknown.