Spider v1.16

Discussion in 'privacy technology' started by habari42, Aug 9, 2005.

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  1. habari42

    habari42 Registered Member

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    Hi. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who has Spider - the Index.dat file cleaner. There doesn't seem to be many of us about.!!
    Cheers, Habari.

    (PS Hope I'm in the right Forum here!!)
     
  2. Trooper

    Trooper Registered Member

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    Do you have a link for this software?
     
  3. ----

    ---- Guest

    It's an extremely old program that removes the index.dat files on reboot.

    People using windows XP have reported problems with it. Though it works fine with Win2k ,98 etc

    There are better, newer and more complete programs out there that do this nowdays.

    Among freeware there are SSS, IE privacy keeper, index suite etc etc...
     
  4. hellstorm

    hellstorm Guest

    Yeah, from what I remember it will only remove some of the index.dats, like history, but it leaves the others. System Security Suite gets all the index.dat files from IE, so I would rather use that, and it's free.
     
  5. StevieO

    StevieO Guest

    I did use it for a while a few years ago. It did flush out History, Cookies, Index Dat etc, but it wasn't always successful on the first attempt.

    But i give the guy kudos for reseaching the privacy problems displayed on his website, regarding how the MS operating system and Internet Explorer works, and how this affects security/privacy.

    This all helped educate me into learning exactly how to secure my computer, and without him it might have taken me longer to do so. If you Google for Spider and reach His site, if it's still there, it's worth a look, as are the links.


    StevieO
     
  6. Spider was the first of its kind an most likely paved the way to later software that does what Spider does and more. Spider was made for win95 and win98 but never upgraded pass those systems. If it works on w2k thats unusual and really should not be used on XP.

    Its been correctly stated that sometimes Spider did not clean everything on the first try an the work around for that was to only use one file cleaning at a time. FE: clean history afterwards clean cookies so on and so forth.
    The person who made Spider deserves major credit for having been a leader in his time.

    Today Spider pales in compare to other cleaning programs but Spider had its 15 minutes of glory an deserves respect for the fine job it did.
     
  7. JRosenfeld

    JRosenfeld Registered Member

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    Used spider in the old W95/98 days. Did not work too well in XP, which has index.dat files all over the place. Now I use Index.dat suite.

    Index.dat suite also allows you to read the contents of the index.dat files, as well as delete them on restart. (You can select the ones for deletion also). It's free from

    http://support.it-mate.co.uk/?mode=Products&p=index.datsuite

    New version just released. For all versions of Windows from W95 onwards.

    It also warns about not deleting the index.dat file in

    C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\OfflineCache (Windows XP), as that wrecks help and support.
     
  8. StevieO

    StevieO Guest

    I was curious as to what had happened to Spiders creator, so i did a little searching and came up with the following.

    Ward van Wanrooij was a student in the Netherlands ( Holland ) This was his original site i mentioned before. http://www.fsm.nl/ward/
    HTTP 404 - File not found The page cannot be found
    The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

    I think i found him alive and well here, http://www.ward.nu/ -> http://www.ward.nu/computer/tools/ My miscellaneous tools, programmed through the years.

    Introduction

    This page contains miscellaneous applications written by me over the years. They are provided for both historical interest and fun factor, and the collection presented here may be expanded over time.

    He lists quite a few programs, but interestingly there is no mention of Spider ? He seems to be quite a bright guy in lots of ways, nice girlfriend too.

    Well Ward i'm glad to find out you're doing fine. Thanks for all the info i learnt from you, and of course not forgetting Spider.


    StevieO
     
  9. habari42

    habari42 Registered Member

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    Hi. Many thanks to all six of you guys/dolls who responded so quickly. Here is the link you asked for Jaguar:-www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_download.asp?fid=6481&fileidx=1 I was interested in Stevio's information about Ward. I have emailed him several times at his old address but,although they were not returned, I never had a reply. I guess he has had quite enough of answering queries about Spider after all these years.!! My problem with Spider is that I never see a list of the URLS picked up by the scan, only a list of the Idex.dat files, without any information about their contents. If anyone has any suggestions how to remedy this I'd be grateful because, for my own satisfaction, I'd like to solve it before switching to a more sophisticated app such as Index.dat Suite or System Security Suite. Thanks again all. Cheers, Habari.
    (This is for the dolls,if any.!! :-* )
     
  10. bellgamin

    bellgamin Registered Member

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    Tried Spider quite a while back. It didn't work at all for me.

    I have used CCleaner to clean out index.dat (and LOTS of other trash) for, lo, these many moons. It definitely DOES work. Free for nada.
     
  11. Velnias

    Velnias Registered Member

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  12. alien_dna

    alien_dna Guest


    Hmmmm, IE Privacy Keeper looks interesting, but is it free of adware, spyware or other forms of malware? Is it safe to use? I'm always suspicious of freeware that looks this good.
     
  13. Velnias

    Velnias Registered Member

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    Using from earlier version and so far no problems - real privacy tool.

    "Free programs from UnH Solutions contain STATIC advertising. The advertising is built into the programs and is NOT UPDATED from web sites. No advertising statistics is collected by the programs."

    And this means short static advertisement of their paid products, btw not annoying.
     
  14. habari42

    habari42 Registered Member

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    Hi all. Since my posting yesterday I have solved my problem.! I have had Spider for 4/5 years and I had a good ponder about my previous experience with it. I looked at some old notes and remembered that I realised something was missing shortly after I installed it and I was advised to reinstall. This was in the very early stages of my PC experience and I simply reinstalled "over the top" without any uninstall. The missing list was still missing but I was satisfied that the Spider was biting and I didn't bother any more about it. I decided to do another reinstall but this time, having deleted all files (it never appeared in Add/Remove for some reason), I did a thorough seach of the Registry and was surprised at the number of references to Spider.!! I cleared them all out and BINGO-after the reinstall Spider is working perfectly. I checked it out with the Index.dat Suite which I had installed for a trial and I can't fault it. Thanks for all the interest. Cheers, Habari. :D
     
  15. cyberlost24

    cyberlost24 Registered Member

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    Hi all,
    Just noticed this thread and thought I would add my 5 cents worth.I have had Spider for well on 5 years now,and have never had a problem with it,at all.Like someone mentioned it was predominately made for win 95/98/98se.Also I think it was mentioned that for some it didn,t work every time the first time,or so they thought it wasn,t working.Well windows by default will keep 16kb of Cookies and 32kb of temp internet files,in the system and they can not be deleted.Everything else will be flushed good!!
    An archived copy can still be found at Snap Files if anyone was interested.
    I am really fond of this program,and thanked the author for it years ago!
     
  16. habari42

    habari42 Registered Member

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  17. StevieO

    StevieO Guest

    Hi,

    You don't need to worry about the Index.dat file sizes. The figures of 16k and 32k are the Default empty sizes that the OS recreates on reboot after they have been deleted in DOS mode.

    There should be NO personal data in there whatsoever if they have been flushed and recreated correctly.

    . . .

    These pages show you before and after.

    Index.dat File (Before Erasing)
    http://www.acesoft.net/tracks/index.dat.htm

    Index.dat file (after erasing)
    http://www.acesoft.net/tracks/index.dat2.htm

    . . .

    Another App which often gets overlooked is the following. This cleans out thousands of user traces, and also Index.dat etc. Have a look in the Settings/PlugIns and set/save the options for as maximum as you wish.

    MRU-blaster

    With additional plug-ins that allow you to clean out your Temporary Internet Files and Cookies, MRU-Blaster enhances the protection of your privacy!

    MRU-Blaster is freeware/donationware. Please consider donating if you like the program!

    http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/mrublaster.html


    StevieO
     
  18. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

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    How do Privacy Keeper and CCleaner compare?

    Thanks,
    Jerry
     
  19. habari42

    habari42 Registered Member

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    Thanks StevieO. You seem to have a different opinion to cyberlost about the significance of the "Default empty sizes". I have been looking at the Properties of my Index.dat files and an example gives the size "80KB/81920bytes/98304bytes USED and the last figure obviously includes the 16KB(16384bytes) of the default. I can't see any point in Windows creating file capacity that will never be used and think cyberlost could well be right. I intend to have a look at MRU-Blaster later. I couldn't get either of the acesoft links to work, for some reason. All I got was the dreaded "You can't do that" bell.!! Cheers, Haba.
     
  20. habari42

    habari42 Registered Member

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    Hi Jerry. I find CCleaner very good but don't know Privacy Keeper so can't compare. Cheers, Haba.
     
  21. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

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    Hi Haba,
    Thanks for the reply. I also use CCleaner, and find it does a good job, that is if a guy like me can determine what it is doing.
    I used Spider for years, but now with the new computer and XP it fell by the wayside.

    It appears to me that Privacy Keeper is so similar to CCleaner that I don't know that it would add anything. Maybe someone with more knowledge than I have can make a comparison.

    Have a good day,
    Jerry
     
  22. StevieO

    StevieO Guest

    Hi habari42,

    I did some more checking on Index.dat, and i do believe i was correct about the default file sizes etc ! You may find the following helpful.

    . . .

    Post 129 Default minimum sizes are :
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=475806#post475806

    But here's one in English

    How can I know that an index.dat file is clean?

    The size of a clean Cookies index.dat file is 16 KB.
    The size of a clean History index.dat file is also 16 KB.
    When clean the size of Temporary Internet Files (Cache) index.dat file is 32 KB.
    http://www.pcmesh.com/internet-cleanup.htm

    . . .

    Much more info here about other things too

    SUMMARY:

    There are folders on your computer that Microsoft has tried hard to keep secret. Within these folders you will find two major things: Microsoft Internet Explorer has not been clearing your browsing history after you have instructed it to do so, and Microsoft's Outlook Express has not been deleting your e-mail correspondence after you've erased them from your Deleted Items bin. (This also includes all incoming and outgoing file attachments.) And believe me, that's not even the half of it.
    http://www.microsuck.com/content/ms-hidden-files.shtml

    . . .

    MS info

    The Index.dat file is re-created the next time that you log on to the computer.
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q293402

    . . .


    StevieO
     
  23. habari42

    habari42 Registered Member

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    Hi. As a side issue, can anyone tell me why clicking on StevieO's links only gets me the "No Can Do" dong and also locks-up my scrolling? Is there anything I can do about it.? No problem with any other links. Cheers, Haba. :mad:
     
  24. habari42

    habari42 Registered Member

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    Hi. Further to my yesterday's posting,I have just realised that what I said doesn't apply only to StavieO's links but to ALL the links on these
    Forums.!! Quite a problem for me, as I'm using them a lot at present. Help please.!!

    Cheers, Haba. o_O
     
  25. Everything just locks up? Could you possibly be low on resourses?

    Enable your system resourse meter if you have one or else click on Properties of the My Computer icon an check out Performance to see what you have free.
    This is of course just a possible cause.
     
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