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               Outbreak Magazine Issue #8 - Article 11 of 14
           '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'                          
  
                       --=Microsoft's Hidden Files=--

                              -By TheEnigma-

I am sure many of you know about this but I recommend reading this text
anyway. Let me first say that I am not a very big fan of Microsoft, but Windows 
is a decent OS and there are many wonderful programs that require Windows to
run. If you insist on using Windows be aware that pretty much everything you 
do online is being recorded on your box.

I bet all of you cover your internet browsing tacks by deleting your history
and temp files. So now nobody will be able to see where you have been on the
internet, right? Wrong! Windows records and hides websites, search queries,
old e-mails, and much more.

One of the most important files to be aware of is the "index.dat" file. This
file stores a list of your history, cache and cookies. Most of these files
will not be clear when you delete them. The "index.dat" file should be located 
in one of the following directories. Just search around for it.

c:\windows\tempor~1
c:\windows\history
c:\temp
c:\windows\local settings\
c:\windows\application data\
c:\windows\temp\

Other folders you should give attention to are the ones with alphanumeric
names located under your IE content folder. They will look something like this:
QET6CF4J, 7YDF326U, U5FVHSI4, etc. You will have to boot to DOS in order to
see the full contents of these folders because windows explorer will not show
some of the files. Once you are in DOS navigate to where your alphanumeric
folders are located. The type cd %alphanumeric folder name%. Then type dir/p.

While your computer is in DOS mode you can also view the contents of your
"index.dat" file. Navigate to where your "index.dat" file is located and
type edit /75 index.dat. You should be looking at a screen full of binary. Just
scroll down till you start seeing your urls. These are all the sites you
have ever visited. I have even found old e-mails for hotmail accounts in these
folders.

I kinda had to rush through the writing of this text so I did not get to
include a lot of my research on this subject, so if you have any questions
or you cant get something to work please contact me at #outbreakzine on Dalnet.
