Can I check visited internet sites when history has been deleted?

[scottwoodbur 10]

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?

[Crosser 10]

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

[slug 10]

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

[xircon 10]

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

[syst3m 10]

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.

[Nazo 10]

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

[Classic Rock 10]

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?

[syst3m 10]

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.

[Classic Rock 10]

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

[Dude111 10]

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))

[jumbo1 10]

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

[xircon 10]

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