How Can I Delete Temporary Internet Files/Content.IE5/Index.dat?

Question

Without purchasing someone elses software, how can I as a software engineer, delete index.dat? What OS Voodoo hoops do I have to jump through to accomplish the simple deletion of a single file on my own computer? I have windows Vista.

Answer 1

System files are normally locked by explorer.exe. Since this is Stackoverflow you'll get a solution in the form of a program:

Enter the following code into a new file purge.bat:

taskkill explorer.exe
del %1%
%system%\explorer.exe

From the command prompt (cmd.exe), execute as follows:

> purge "yourpath\Index.dat"

and presto, your file is gone.

The same thing can of course be done using the task manager (to kill and then run explorer.exe), but where's the fun in that?

Answer 2

You can login as admin and delete index.dat. If you are currently admin, just create a second admin account, log on and delete anything you want. Or you can delete it using a startup script which runs before the users logs-on and acquires a lock on index.dat. Or you can use Unlocker, a free software which can forcefully unlock any file in your account while you are being logged on.