Hidden personal info in Windows

[Viking]

Did you know? When you think you have cleaned up, there is still a ton of hidden info left. In places you can not reach with Windows Explorer!
You don't use Windows? Congratulations. But if you use it, or if you are curious, read the article behind this controversial address:

http://www.****microsoft.com/content/ms-hidden-files.shtml

[seer]

Not sure about Win ME, but these files do show up in Win XP when you sellect "Show hidden files and folders" and deselect "hide protected operating system files".. Usually delete these files before a defrag (No need to defrag temp files.. )

Good to read about this again and some of the other stuff in it.

[Ilwrath]

Does this all really matter, though?  Why would you ever turn over a computer to someone you don't trust without first doing a total hard-drive wipe (with a data destroyer program)?  Regardless of the OS, there are bazillions of files you wouldn't think of that hold personal information....

[mikrucio]

- edited by mikeymike - there's no need for that sort of comment now is there... -

[Cymric]

Interesting read. Spoiled by the adolescent testosterone-high mentality that such files are used exclusively by the Evil Empire to track your whereabouts on-line.

[whabang]

One could use Mozilla instead... :roll:

[Chunder]

I'm sure that you could also network your Miggy to the Winbox, and view/delete files and folders from there...

Still a bit scary, though!  :-o

[Vincent]

seer wrote:
Not sure about Win ME, but these files do show up in Win XP when you sellect "Show hidden files and folders" and deselect "hide protected operating system files".. Usually delete these files before a defrag (No need to defrag temp files.. )

Good to read about this again and some of the other stuff in it.

Actually, they only do that when you're logged on as the first user-created-account.

We've got 3 accounts on this pc and we had to go throught the Content.ie5 crap to show them for the other users.

[Viking]

Nope, they don't show even if you turn on "show hidden...". Not THESE files. They can not be accessed or deleted by Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer. The only way is by DOS, if you know exactly where they are. You can't even find them by executing the "DIR" command... :inquisitive:

And the reason to delete them is not so much privacy. Just doing a virus scan take alot more time when there is thousands of old files to search. (And yes, just doing a normal delete doesn't actually remove them).

I personally don't bother so much deleting that junk, but it's still interesting to know about it.

[Vincent]

Viking wrote:
Nope, they don't show even if you turn on "show hidden...". Not THESE files. They can not be accessed or deleted by Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer. The only way is by DOS, if you know exactly where they are. You can't even find them by executing the "DIR" command... :inquisitive:

Actually, with XP (at least SP1) you can access them through explorer if you know what the dirs are called.  You just type them in the address bar as usual.

Or, without knowing what the dirs are called, go into DOS, go to the Temporary Internet Files dir and type Edit Desktop.ini  Change it so it only has one line:

[.ShellClassInfo]

Then log off and on again - sometimes this isn't needed, the change is immediately done.  And that's it.  You don't need to know the dir names and you only need to edit one desktop.ini, the ones in the dirs below don't really matter.

You can do exactly the same for the other profiles and the History dir aswell.

[Cass]

Just run WinUAE, mount the PC volumes at startup, and you can see any file you want through AmigaOS (miracle!!!);-).
________
VODUN (VOODOO) FORUMS

[sir_inferno]

Viking wrote:
You can't even find them by executing the "DIR" command... :inquisitive:

dir /s

or if you have too many and want to search through them slower

dir /p /s

[cecilia]

Cass wrote:
Just run WinUAE, mount the PC volumes at startup, and you can see any file you want through AmigaOS (miracle!!!);-).

i know. i love doing that.....seems so EVIL!!! :pissed:

[mikeymike]

Sounds like the sort of thing Steve Gibson would dream up.

My God!  AmigaOS has "hidden files" too!  Commodore must have been trying to take over the world with their hidden files!

[Viking]

I run XP with SP1.
I admit that I have not tried to find those files on my pc, I just assumed the article was right also about XP.

I couldn't resist to dig up some more info, and I found that the article "probably" don't apply for XP. So you're most likely right, Vincent. The article apply more to older Win versions, take a look at this forum.


We shouldn't fear that MS plan to take over the world... they did long ago. An old melody comes across my mind:

He's got the whole wide world,
In His hands,
He's got the Win and the drain,
In His hands,
He's got the every little bug,
In His hands,
He's got the whole world in His hands.

Mr Gates, I dedicate it to you  :-D

Edit: I just had to edit the song