Colin's Weekly Tip: Deleting Temporary Files in IE6

[Colin]

If you're a IE6 user you most certainly know that sometimes Internet Explorer will grind to a halt and use up 100% of your CPU resources for no apparent reason. This happens especially a lot when you're trying to delete the Temporary Internet files via Internet Tools. The problem is usually that the main database file has been corrupted, causing things to slow way down, but luckily it can be fixed easily.<BR>First close all Internet Explorer 6 browsers through Task Manager. Then load up Windows Explorer and go to the drive which has your Documents and Settings folder (usually C). Once inside that folder go to your current user account -> Local Settings -> Temporary Internet Files -> Content.IE5 (it is IE6, but for some reason the folder is still called Content.IE5). Once you're there delete the index.dat file and you're set.<BR><BR>Once that's done IE should work properly. =)<BR><BR>P.S. the index.dat file gets corrupted quite easily...

[ice66]

Hey Colin,<BR><BR>I've tried doing what you've suggested, when I go to local settings, then temp internet files. But once I'm there, I can't find any folder called "Content.IE5". I see a bunch of temporary files. But if I go to Default User, then I can go to Local Settings, and then Temp Internet Files, and yup... there's "Content.IE5". But even when I delete the "index.dat" file under "Default User", it doesn't solve my problem.<BR><BR>What should I do?<BR><BR>I'm using WinXP Pro, and I don't know why it doesn't have that folder under my profile.

[Assimilator87]

When I did this, I used the file finder program(windows+F). I searched for Content.IE5 and 2 results came up. They were exactly the same except one was in<BR><BR>C:WINDOWSTemporary Internet Files<BR>and the other was in<BR>C:WINDOWS empTemporary Internet Files.<BR><BR>I deleted the index.dat file in the second C: folder written above, but the index.dat in the first C: folder wouldn't delete. It kept saying "Cannot delete index: Access is denied. Make sure that the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use." even after I had all programs and startup programs turned off. What should I do?

[ice66]

No replies... come on Colin! We wanna know why...

[CHE]

It is a protected file. It has to be deleted from DOS (normally). From the C: prompt,<BR><BR>deltree c:windows empor~1content.ieindex.dat<BR><BR>I use Windows 98 so I edit my autoexec file to delete it upon reboot with the "/y" switch so it doesn't ask me to confirm delete:<BR><BR>deltree /y c:windows empor~1content.ieindex.dat<BR><BR>Ice66, you are using my avatar. It's not your fault, you didn't know, but you need to change it or I will have to ban you from the boards <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> Thanks bro <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Colin, fix that avatar selection panel again plz! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><BR>

[Ghost]

man this is confusing ,,2 Che's

[CHE]

Cut it out Ghost <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> (j/k)

[ice66]

So maybe I'm an idiot, but I can't seem to find "autoexec.bat" anywhere in my computer. I'm using WIN XP, btw.<BR><BR>About the avatar, I'm sorry to take "YOUR" avatar, cuz I had no idea it was "YOUR'S". <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><BR><BR><b>No problem. Come back next weekend and fix it</b><BR><BR>Please let me know how I can execute the command:<BR><BR>deltree c:windows empor~1conten~1index.dat <BR><BR>from "cmd" in WIN XP. Maybe I need to boot my computer in DOS mode? Or maybe I need to put the command at autoexec.bat. But since I can't find it, I can't make it execute it. Help help! <BR><BR>

[CHE]

I'm sure there's a better way in XP but I don't have XP. <BR><BR>If XP uses an autoexec.bat (I don't know), locate the file. In Win9X it is in the root directory of the c: drive. So I boot to DOS (you might need a Win9X boot disk, I think XP DOS is protected).<BR><BR>Enter "cd"". I am now at the c: prompt.<BR>Enter "edit autoexec.bat". Edittor opens autoexec.bat.<BR>Find a clear spot and type "deltree /y deltree c:windows empor~1content.ieindex.dat". Save and exit.<BR><BR>Quite honestly, you might do better to delete the file manually so you can just do it once in a while rather than trying to make it automatic. If you can't delete the file from within whatever emulated DOS is provided in XP, try to reboot to DOS and just type the command "deltree /y deltree c:windows empor~1content.ieindex.dat". If that won't work, try booting to a Win9X boot disk to get an unprotected DOS and then type the same command.<BR><BR>If you can delete it from DOS while XP is running, maybe you could create your own batch file and put a shortcut to the file on your desktop to make it a one-click process.<BR><BR>

[CHE]

Oops. I noticed mine is not working. The Content.ie5 directory must be spelled out in the DOS that comes with Windows98SE, not "conten~1".<BR><BR>Deltree /y C:WindowsTempor~1content.ie5index.dat

[CHE]

Hey, guys, I tested Colin's tip on an XP machine and of course it works. You can delete the file while XP is running, you don't need to boot to DOS to delete the file like you have to with Win98SE. Obviously Colin knew this since he would have given more detailed instructions otherwise.<BR><BR>This is one of the best tweaks I have fund in a long time, for both XP and Windows 98, it makes a big difference.<BR><BR>It turns out I was previously only deleting the index.dat file in the cookies directory which doesn't do much to improve web-surfing performance.

[duhwebb]

[duhwebb]

Messed up trying to login, I have used spiderbites and a few other programs to clean out index dat but they would stay the same size after I did but I found a program called System Security Suite (3S) that cleans out cookie, history, and tmp internet files index dat, or it gets them back down to 16 or 32 kbs anyways.