Is Your History Really Cleared?

Internet privacy groups argue that the use of index.dat files in the Windows operating system is an invasion of privacy. One of their main arguments is that the index.dat files cannot be deleted or erased easily, because they are always open when Windows (usually the explorer.exe process) is running. Open or "locked" files cannot be deleted in any way when the process using them is running. Also, when this file grows larger than 80MB in size the possibility of degraded web performance may occur. Another argument is that the Operating System gives a false sense of security. Although you may have thought to erase the history of websites visited, cookies and temporary Internet files within your browser, they still remains intact within the index.dat file and continue to be stored. Microsoft representatives have pointed out however, that for advanced users, this file can in-fact be removed by booting your computer into Safe-Mode as Windows does not lock the file while in this mode.