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But even so, the Compatibility Appraiser functionality, KB2952664, has been incorporated into the Monthly updates, both Rollup and Security-only.

Exactly so! M$ is determined to force these thinly veiled corporate malwares on us one way or the other. If KB ‘drive-by downloads’ was the next move, it would come as no great surprise. The choice is a simple one. Gates and Nadella has drawn the line in the sand, and made it an all or nothing proposition, so it is now up to each end-user to decide whether it is all…or nothing. Either swallow whatever M$ is cooking, or or stay out of their diner altogether.

Frankly I’ve never been enamored with their updates and patches. Maybe due to five+ years of running XP Pro pretty much problem-free, before finally switching to Win 7 a few months ago. Maybe because I have a tech on retainer that does housecalls, and can handle anything the technovandals send this way. Maybe given the history of how regularly these ‘upgrades’ either make things worse, or contain hidden nasties that make the cure far worse than the disease. Most likely a bit of all three! First thing I did upon getting the XP Pro rig was to end access to it by M$, and over five years later, never had any reason to regret that. First thing I did upon getting the Win 7 rig was exactly the same (if it ain’t broke don’t fix it). I’m betting in five years from now I’ll still have no reason to reaccess my method. The price of having M$ provide my security is too high (not to mention just how shoddy the security they provide always seems to be), so me and my tech will be taking care of that, sans the nasties embedded in the wares Billie Gates is so eager to provide. I’ll be passing on the updates and patches….again.

I do not currently use Firefox or Chrome on my XP Pro, and will not be using either on my Win 7 PC, when it arrives from eBay in a couple weeks. As for browser derivatives, Mypal and Centaury continues to work on XP Pro, but neither are compatible with Win 7. Firefox-based browsers for Win 7 are Waterfox, Cyberfox, and Basilisk (probably others I don’t know of), but I have not seen any communiques from those developers as to whether the Win 7 EOL/EOS blather will mean anything to them. For Firefox:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1122661

The CA certificates store embedded in XP Pro has rendered all Chrome/Chromium based browsers pretty much useless, with its 101 certificate errors blockade of about half the internet URLs, but so far as I can tell, this is not a problem with Win 7. I’m not seeing any missives from SRWareIron, Slimjet, or Citrio on dropping Win 7 support, so I assume it’s too soon to tell.

Thanks for the help…I will give it a try!

@Vorn
When you log off or shutdown, Windows will save your settings, including sound.
So set the volume to the level you want just when you are going to shutdown, but read the rest.

If you want sound to be completely off, the easiest way (on XP) is this simple 2-clicks step:

– LEFT click the speaker icon in the tray.
– Check the Mute box

Next time you boot Windows XP, sound should be totally muted (if all is working well on your machine).

Don’t forget to Un-mute when you want to hear sound.

I have always done this or something very similar. I am wanting to stop doing this. I basically want to reverse the process. When I log on I want the “slider all the way down” by default, so that each time I log on, I have to move the slider up to engage the sound.

As part of my security regimen, I will be disconnecting from the internet, and turning off the PC when not in use, so the link you gave will definitely work for my need. Only downside would be whether or not the script actually erases the files on shutdown…having delved into the Recycle Bin, I’ve learned that erasing files in Windows is only ‘pretend’ erasing. If so, then eliminating the Index.dat would be the better way, although maybe eliminating the ‘free space’ and/or ‘unallocated space’ would stop the storage of deleted files. Guess it all goes to which is easier to implement: nuke the index.dat, or deploy your script.

In all fact, I don’t know what the real impact on the browser would be.
I would be greatly interested in your disabling mechanism and the overall effect.

Please ensure you take precautions, like perform an image based backup, if and when you do decide to experiment with this.

The scripts I linked too sound fine, but your computing habits would have to include shutting down or restarting the computer regularly.
This is something a sizable demographic of users don’t often do.

Of course! In fact, I have never been much impressed by either IE or Firefox, and have found 14 other less-known browsers slated for trial. At this point, I’m just looking to find out whether or not I can keep IE, or must ditch it.

@Vorn… if you are so concerned about Internet Explorer’s use of index.dat files (which, I agree, are easily decipherable), could you not just use an alternative browser?

If you have links to articles on how to “permanently” remove index.dat files please provide them,
I’m sure others, as well as myself would be interested.

IE utilizes 3 index.dat file types; they are cache, cookies, and history.
I doubt very much there is a permanent way to remove such files, except with batch scripts designated to run upon shut down.

If you’ve got yourself a super fast internet connection you’re not likely to notice much as far as slowing is concerned.
You might have issues with websites that use cookies.

If it’s privacy your concerned about, it’s basically a non issue to the informed, as these files can easily be deleted at will.
CCleaner will remove the files, but a restart may be needed..
Privacy Mantra will delete the files, but a restart is needed.
Some scripts can be made to delete these files on restart.

Index.dat files can be a real privacy issue in the wrong hands, or should I say in the right hands, as most common users don’t
know anything about them.

So can I assume what you said that IE can survive (even if in slightly less functional form) the extinction of the Index.dat? All I really need to know is whether I can nuke the Index.dat, and keep IE…or whether I have to do a clean sweep (uninstall IE), and find a replacement browser.

The methods of eradicating the index.dat, and disabling the mechanism that replicates it, are in my storage binders (I ran across them about a year ago). It will likely take a couple weeks to get to the storage facility, pull the binders, sift through them, and get back to you.

My irritation with the Index.dat is multifold, but if I had to pick the main one its simply that I don’t like the idea of having to regularly deploy an app like ‘Index.dat Suite’ to erase the contents again and again and again…I might think differently if it actually did something that I needed done, but all research indicates its as useless to me as a tapeworm. Since I intend to eliminate IRC, Telnet, and similar bloatware, I have no reason to allow it to remain. I will say that I was not aware of this:

Some scripts can be made to delete these files on restart.

I’ll have to study this, compare its implementation to those of eradicating the files, and see which is easier to make happen. Possibly this could be an acceptable solution.