I wrote this a while ago. It was written with the newbie in mind and I 
thought some people here could use it. I apologize if I come off 
sounding arrogant, I'm not trying to be. I know a lot of you are 
already aware of Microsoft's pundits. 

--( BOF )--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Microsoft's Really Hidden Files 
By The Riddler 
[6/11/00] 

--( Description )------------------------------------------------------------- 

MSIE v5.x saves hidden cookies/cache information to your HD. These files 
never get erased, which means they've been building up since the day you 
installed the **** thing. As I went through the files on my HD, I found 
personal information, incriminating websites, and even full readable e-mail 
from my hotmail account. If you think that's sneaky, wait til you hear this 
part: Some of these files can only be found using explorer (DOS won't list 
them). Likewise, some of them can only be found using DOS (explorer won't 
list them.) It took me a long time to find these files -- and an even longer 
time to learn how to erase them using windows confines. 

--( Microsoft helping the FBI? )---------------------------------------------- 

Why did Microsoft go way out of their way to keep us from erasing these? 
Afterall, they're just cache and cookie files right? Just all your visited 
sites. Just your own personal e-mail. 

I went on microsoft.com to see if they documented this. They didn't. See for 
yourself. They only mention the "c:\windows\cookies\" directory. And to make 
matters worse, they give people a false sense of security with the statement: 

"All cookies are deleted after you close Internet Explorer." 

I couldn't believe my eyes either. This is a myth, and it looks like Microsoft is behined it. Moreover, Microsoft conveniently pretends this is their only cookies 
directory. The truth is that this \cookies\ folder is just a decoy. (See 
also; dummy, trick, dupe, deceive, or fool.) 

Here's what Microsoft really meant to say: 

"All cookies in the decoy directory are deleted after you close Internet 
Explorer. Except there is no point to this since we've made copies of them 
and are storing them in four other directories. These directories are hidden 
well so don't even bother looking for them." 

(Even that statement wouldn't be true.) 

So what is their motivation to do this? 

--( Instructions For Removal )------------------------------------------------ 

You would think a simple "deltree tempor~1" command would work, but don't do 
it. Not only does it take a mysteriously long time to process, but afterwards 
you won't be able to view source on a webpage. Besides, windows reconstructs 
the dirs on every boot anyway. (Those bastards.) 

First thing you do is drop to DOS. (Heh, "drop to dos." I degress.) 
Anyway, type this line at prompt: 

c:\windows\explorer /e,c:\windows\tempor~1\content.ie5\ 
(in all lowercase) 

You see that jibberish listed under "content.ie5?" That's Microsoft's idea of 
making this project as hard as possible. (Earlier versions of MSIE simply 
called them "cache#.") These are your default folders that MSIE has created 
to keep your cookies and cache. Write these down. (They should look 
something like this: 6YQ2GSWF, QRMTKLWF, U7YHQKI4, 7YMZ516U, WQK6Z9UV, etc.) 

Now that you have the names of the default directories, drop back to DOS. 
Note: Leave Explorer open, otherwise this next step will not work. (It's 
amazing what Microsoft tries to do to keep these files secret.) 

Type this at prompt: 

CD\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\CONTENT.IE5 
CD DEFAULTDIRECTORY1 (defaultdirectory1 = first name you wrote down.) 
DIR/P 

You see all that garbage? That's your browsing history. Pictures from all 
those porn sites you've visited, cookies with your information on it, and of 
course your e-mail from your hotmail account. Browse through them to see what 
kind of records are being kept about you. I suggest using a hex editor. If 
it won't let you view the files with your browser, then you will have to copy 
them to another folder. (Don't ask me why this works but it does.) 

Erase it all by typing "del *.*" Hopefully you knew that already. 

Now check out your other default directories. (There should be 4 total.) 
Repeat these steps until you have erased all of your records. 

Congratulations, you're almost done. 

Your browsing history is located here: 

c:\windows\history\history.ie5 
(the filename is index.dat) 

Use the same steps mentioned above to erase this. 

Note that you will not be able to access this file. Even after you've closed 
IE, changed the attributes, and rebooted to DOS mode. (Makes you wonder.) 
Anyway, the way to get around this is to simply make a copy of the file. If 
you want to erase the file altogether its simple. 

1) Make a file called "i.dat" 
2) Copy i.dat over index.dat 


The End 
****************************************************************************** 
Things that make you go "hmm..." 

- The FOLDERS can not be seen by DOS while the FILES cannot be seen by 
Explorer. (eg, the "history" folder is not shown under DOS, while "index.dat" 
is shown under explorer.) 
- This opens the door to the possibility of files that cannot be seen by 
neither DOS nor Explorer. 
- Some say the registry is a nonexistant file. This is probably just another 
Microsoft-created-myth, as user.dat and system.dat seem to have encrypted 
registry properties. However, one may be able to pinpoint other "nonexistant" 
files given the time and motivation. 
****************************************************************************** 

So I'll ask again; Why does Microsoft go through all the trouble? 

I can see their excuse now: "We were only trying to protect your privacy." 

Yes, keeping secret records of our browsing history is a very good way to 
protect our privacy. 

--The Riddler 

--( EOF )--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

No need to dish out $20 to buy a program -- I've just taught you how to do it 
for free. Actually, I've made a program cough*cough*batchfile*cough that 
gets around the traps and erases the cache. I'll send you a copy if your 
interested. If you have anything to add then please do. 
Thanks for reading, sorry for the length. 

--the riddler