from the author of
PurgeIE - Purge Cache, Cookies and Tracks for Internet Explorer
If you found this page while searching for problems encountered when deleting Internet Explorer 'Daily' history, you will find that information via the following link - http://www.purgeie.com/lockhist.htm.
If you found this page while searching for documentation on Internet Explorer Index.dat files and the structure of the IE folders, you will find that information via the following link - http://www.purgeie.com/indexdat.htm.
If you are primarily interested in the deleting information that IE uses for its Auto Complete feature, see Auto Complete below.
This section covers information pertaining to the Internet Explorer Address Bar. Some refer to this as the 'address dropdown list'.
The Address Bar is the data field that you can enter a web address (URL) into for accessing a given website. For example, you can enter www.weather.com to access the 'weather' website.
The last 25 URLs entered via the Address Bar are recorded in the Windows registry. You (or anyone using your computer) can press the 'down' control at the right side of the Address Bar and display these URLs in a dropdown menu. Any of these can then be clicked by the mouse to access the corresponding website. I refer to these as Typed URLs.
The problem lies in the fact that Internet Explorer provides no way to delete the Typed URLs.
I provide two utility programs that can be used to delete the Typed URLs:
PurgeIE is utility program that has functions for deleting your Internet Explorer 'surfing tracks'. One of its functions is to delete the Typed URL entries from your Windows Registry. PurgeIE also has functions for deleting Web Cache, Cookies, Visited URLs, Recent LNKs, Dailly History files, Windows Temp folder, etc..
PurgeIE is marketed as a Shareware program. This means that you can download and install it on your system. PurgeIE provides for a 15 (non-contiguous) days trial. All functions are available during the trial. If you decide to retain PurgeIE after the trial days, you would need to license (register) the program. The fee is $15.00 US.
Supports: Windows 98, NT4, 2000, 2003, ME, XP or Vista and IE-5.0 through IE-8 (beta).0
EditURLs is a free utility program that provides functions for working with the Typed URLs.
EditURLs provides an easy to user interface to accomplish editing of the Typed URLs. This means that you can select any of the Typed URLs and change it or you could simply delete it.
In addition to simple editing and deletion of individual Typed URLs, EditURLs provides functions for creating and restoring a 'master' set of URLs. A function for sorting the Typed URLs was recently added to EditURLs.
Supports: Windows 98, NT4, 2000, 2003, ME, XP or Vista and IE-5.0 through IE-8 (beta).0
This section covers information pertaining to the Internet Explorer Auto Complete feature.
From the IE Help file - "The Auto Complete feature saves previous entries you've made for Web addresses, forms, and passwords. Then, when you type information in one of these fields, Auto Complete suggests possible matches. These matches can include folder and program names you type into the Address bar, and search queries, stock quotes, or information for just about any other field you fill in on a Web page.."
In simpler terms, when you type a letter, or two, IE tries to be helpful by assuming that you are trying to return to a site you have visited before and uses its vast resources to complete the typing for you.
As discussed in the Address Bar section (above), the web addresses you type into the Address Bar are called Typed URLs. Both EditURLs and PurgeIE (above) can delete your Typed URLs.
The IE Help file does not mention the fact that Visited URLs are also used for the 'Auto Complete' feature. The Visited URL data is stored in the Index.dat file that IE maintains in the upper level of its History folder. This data is also used to control the highlighting of URL links within its display of webpages to indicate that you have recently visited the site referenced by the link. This is the record of websites that the privacy advocates are so concerned about.
Note that some versions of IE will delete the Visited URL data when you request that all History be deleted via 'Internet Options'.
Regardless, PurgeIE's option for Visited URLs will delete this information from this Index.dat file.