Question about Spider Utility

When using the Spider utility to remove index.dat files, is it necessary to turn off firewall and antivirus?
Thanks.
Sincerely, Nancee

If Spider is run in Windows, then it's normal to shut down all unnecessary programs running in the background.
(Note- If you use a cable ISP, then place the modem in standby before disabling the firewall.)

I use Spider and have not found it necessary to turn off
NAV or Zone Alarm. Spider is not connecting to the internet
so it would appear that neither of these has any interface with Spider.

wonder if this thread might be useful...
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...hreadid=122388

Thank you everyone for your responses. Ski says I should shut down ZA and EZTrust, and Michael says he doesn't find it necessary. Davey, thanks for the link but I don't want to use a bat file because sometimes when you install something it needs the file in C\Windows\Temp after the reboot.

Here's my situation: I'm running Verizon dsl (no software used for installation) for about a month. I was turning off the switch to the modem to perform maintenance. Old Version ZA 2.6 gave me true vector errors. I was advised nobody turns off the dsl modem. I removed and reinstalled ZA 2.6. Got the same problem with turning off the modem.

THEN I ran Spider (I turned off ZA and EZTrust). When Spider rebooted I got the ZA True Vector errors again! Now I knew it wasn't the modem. I removed ZA and installed ZA 4.5.538.001.

So at this point I'm wondering if I should let ZA and EZTrust run.
My dsl modem has a NAT/Router firewall. I only use Spider to remove the hidden urls.

Any additional thoughts?

Thanks again.

Sincerely, Nancee

Howdy Nanceel0,

I been using Spider for over 5 years on a bunch of different computers and it has always worked for me...always. And, when I run it, I "dump/delete" everything.:D

Used Spidey on both Win98 flavors and now on XP-home 'and' Pro with no problems. Only diff is, on XP you need to go to option menu first and tell it to search whole hard drive. Spider is part of my maintenance procedure and I 'always' shut down running programs before doing a cleanup...

Quote:

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When using the Spider utility to remove index.dat files, is it necessary to turn off firewall and antivirus?

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as shown in the linked directions, NO - however, as Ridgerunr points out, it's a good practice. Personally, I don't.

Nanceel0--I use a simpler program.
http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/apps/deltemp/deltemp.exe
It cleans out TIF (not Cookies, but does delete the Content.IE5 files) and Temp files. It does not delete index.dat files. These will shrink to a very small size when you delete the associated files in the folder. There is no need to delete index.dat in Win98.
Deltemp, does, however, require that Windows Script Host be running. A read-me file comes with the download.

I think I will turn off all running programs before I run Spider (that's what I always did and questioned this because of the ZA errors). Before I run it, I have another question.

I just searched for index.dat with Find and C\Windows\UserData came up with 32.kb. I don't recall that ever coming up before. I looked in Windows Explorer and there are approximately 69 folders like
0o7clgw2 (which is 0 bytes). I viewed a few and some are 0 bytes and one was 28 bytes. They all have system checked in the attributes. Does anyone know what this is?

Jim, thanks, but if I remove all temp int files it doesn't budge my index.dat size.

Thanks everyone.

Sincerely, Nancee

Nanceel0--When I use DelTemp, the index.dat file in TIF\Content.IE5 goes from over 1-2MB (after several days of surfing) down to 32KB, which I suspect is the size of an essentially empty file. So when you delete all the Content.IE5 files (those alphanumeric files) there is nothing left for that index.dat to do (see below) and it shrinks to the minimum.
Index.dat files contain information for proper functioning of the other files in a folder. If you delete index.dat in Cookies, without deleting all the Cookies, for example, the cookies remaining do not have the info to function properly.
P.S. Of course you know you do not delete cookies from C:\Windows\Cookies.
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;278835
;)
P.P.S. Are you still keen to delete index.dat files? (There are several.)

digressing a smidgen...
greetings, Welshjim - and thanks for the nifty DelTemp.com utility! I use various cleaners for various purposes (XCleaner, Spybot S&D, Adaware, HDValet, RegCleaner, Spider, etc, including a nifty batch file too to clean out the gaps) - this DelTemp.com utility is tiny, handy, unobtrusive, and works great.

incidentally, I didn't know cookies would not function properly once their index.dat file gets whacked! :eek: I guess I've just gotten accustomed to living without keeping them.

^dAvEy^--Thanks for the kind words. You are most welcome. I like to keep it simple! ;)
If I have it right, deleting index.dat files should not be a priority since they usually shrink themselves if you delete the other files in the same folder.

Also,,keep in mind the urls created by windows in 'index.dat' will be rebuilt by default.

Ridgerunr--Maybe we are saying the same thing. Whatever you do not delete from a folder which has an index.dat file, will retain its info in the index.dat file. Whatever you delete will remove its info from index.dat. That is why index.dat files automatically shrink as the other files in the folder are deleted. And why index.dat will grow rapidly as you add things to a folder (like TIF\Content.IE5 as you surf).

Personally, I prefer to to give 'em the boot about every two weeks.

http://www.exits.ro/index-dat-files.html

Just my 2 pesos.

SM

Hi Everyone,
I used Spider and closed all running programs first. It all went well. I only had it search in Windows and remove hidden urls only. I had it run silently and didn't have it remove it's own files.

I was able to post here without logging in, but I had to log in at another site.

Jim, as I mentioned before - I have no idea of why, but if I remove the files from temp.int.files it doesn't change the size of my index.dat.

Sincerely, Nancee

User spider once a day at Work on WinNT machine - delete everything.

At home using WinMe I boot to DOS and delete C:\Windows\Cookies, C:\Windows\History and C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files at the end of each day.

Nanceel0,

Until you check all the remove boxes--4 of them and have Spider remove it's own files and reboot.....you aren't going to accomplish much using Spider.

Spaceman

Hi Spaceman,
I've only used Spider to reduce the index.dat files. I don't want to delete my cookies because I'd have to re-log in here and there, but I do go thru them manually. IE is set to remove temp. internet files on shutdown and I only keep history for 1 day. I'll have it remove it's own files - I wondered about that.
Thanks.
Sincerely, Nancee