All Things Microsoft > Microsoft Software

"Really Hidden Files"?

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ChakanTGM:
All I can say is, restart your computer in Windows and test your hypothesis. They don't call them "REALLY HIDDEN FILES" for nothing.

{If you don't want to do that, then here's the answer: You will not see these files the way you've described.}

If you would like to research this, go to the homepage of this website and look for "Microsoft's Really Hidden Files" by theRIDDLER.

Or go to Hackers.com and ask him about these files yourself.

I think it's nice that you mention Linux can go into these files without a hitch.

ChakanTGM:
Oh, and VoidMain, you can rest assured that Microsoft has done everything possible to hinder anyone's tampering with these files. An attrib command may or may not work the first time around. But if it does, you will have to do it repeatedly.

These files are recreated, using the same attributes, everytime you start up Windows.

I know this for a fact.

The reason these files are such a big nusance is simply the index.dat files which are contained in them.

They store every single website you have ever been to since you've had Internet Explorer. This is because when you clear the cache, these files aren't cleared. And they are even preserved when the folders that contain them are recreated.

Think about this.

voidmain:

quote:Originally posted by ChakanTGM:
Oh, and VoidMain, you can rest assured that Microsoft has done everything possible to hinder anyone's tampering with these files. An attrib command may or may not work the first time around. But if it does, you will have to do it repeatedly.

--- End quote ---


Well, I can understand why these "special" files/directories are recreated when they are critical to the operation of their OS and or browser.  I *am* surprised though that Microsoft actually "thought ahead" and checked for the existance of files/directories critical to the operation of OS actually existed, let alone recreate them if they don't.  My guess is that the dat file not being cleared when the cache is cleared is an incompetent programmer oversight.

As to why they are hidden?  Microsoft really thinks the people that use their OS are stupid (and most of them are, technically).  Another thought is on multiuser setups of MS they probably want to make it harder for users to see where the other users of the machine have been browsing (course firewall/proxy logs take care of this   .

Again, this is the IE cache, I would expect it to be recreated when the system is rebooted if it does not exist just like Netscape does, just like Squid Proxy server does, etc etc... Why they have hidden it in the way they have I'm not convinced it's an evil plot.. Please prove me wrong...

voidmain:
Oh and I'm not going to reboot into Windows just to check this but do you have more than one logon user on your Win* box?  Remember that if you clear the Cache for your current logged on user it will not clear every other user's cache that has ever logged on. I believe on Win9x/me machines all users that log on use the /c/windows/Temp*/Content.IE5 for their browser cache. You have probably logged on previously as a different user.... just guessing.  Am I wrong again"?

And one more thing.. I don't have a single "*.microsoft.com" URL in my dat file (I block it at my firewall/proxy along with boatloads of others, I love censorship!).

[ December 13, 2001: Message edited by: VoidMain ]

ChakanTGM:
Ah, VoidMain, you are falling into the very same trap that I fell into. These files, in fact, ARE NOT CRITICAL TO THE OPERATION OF INTERNET EXPLORER OR WINDOWS!

How do I know this? Because I'm a Cracker and a Reverser.

'So what?' you're probably saying.

Well I haven't really announced it yet, but I've permenently eliminated these files. Not only that, but I've also stopped Internet Explorer from caching ANY FILES FROM THE INTERNET.

'But how?', you may ask.

"Because I'm cool like that", is what I tell everyone.

But in all seriousness, I haven't had any problems with Windows or IE since. I've even decided to make a program to do this for you automatically.

'What are you talking about?'

Go to http://crackice.cjb.net and see.

{10 minutes later}

'Holy Shit! Where can I get This?!'

Now calm down, VoidMain. Something like this needs to be copyrighted. I'll be taking care of that for the next few days. In the meantime, why don't you count down the number of days until I screw IE and Microsoft for the sake of all humanity.

By the way, those files are for record keeping purposes. Having a disk cache does not significantly speed up the Internet. Deleting the disk cache leaves risidual information on where you've been on the web. And Richard Simmons is gay.

That is all.

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