Dat Files in IE Favorites not cleared - iphone?

My IE8 Favorites has quite a number of .dat files displayed as .dat* on my Favorites. I googled this issue and most people seem to think it is associated with the synching process of the iPhone or iTouch via iTunes. I can certainly vouch for the fact I did not have this issue until I got an iPhone and began to synch via iTunes. Several suggestions have been put forward, but no one comprehensive solution, other than to simply stop synchronising favorites folders. Some have suggested Ccleaner would resolve this problem. I have used Ccleaner for many years and find it one of the safest on the market. Unfortunately in this case it does not seem to pick up these files even though I have selected Index.dat files to be cleaned. I should, perhaps, make it clear here that ther actually show up on the Favorites folder as .dat files. Here is an example from my folder .dat15b0.167

Anyone else had this problem ans found a solution?

Thanks

Gareth

Hi Gareth.

The dat files are apparently real bookmarks, which work as actual bookmark links on the Apple Mac, but serve no purpose on a Windows PC.

You can apparently prevent them from being made by not selecting "Sync Bookmarks" when doing syncs.

Read the last post in this thread by Shane49, although the whole topic may be of interest.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.j...ssageID=9684097

Hope that helps.

Thanks Dennis

I know this does resolve the issue in a way, but it does mean I cannot synch my favorites with my iPhone, but I guess it may be the lesser of two evils to avoid being inundated with .dat files.

I was also interested to find out why Ccleaner is unable to clear them given Index dat is selected.

Thanks again for your help

Gareth

Hi Gareth.

The dat files are apparently real bookmarks, which work as actual bookmark links on the Apple Mac, but serve no purpose on a Windows PC.

You can apparently prevent them from being made by not selecting "Sync Bookmarks" when doing syncs.

Read the last post in this thread by Shane49, although the whole topic may be of interest.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.j...ssageID=9684097

Hope that helps.

Gareth, you could add the .dat files to a CCleaner "Include" if you know their location:

"CCleaner\Options\Include Files or Folders."

You would need to check the "Custom Files And Folders" box in "CCleaner\Windows\Advanced" for the "Include" to work, and I don't know if these files would be "in use" if iTunes was closed, but it might be worth trying.

Post back if need more advice.

Just to check if the iPhone/iTunes was the offender I cleared the .dat files and disabled the Favorites sync within iTunes. The I ran a sync and no ,dat files appeared in IE Favorites. Must the iPhone I fear. I will stick at that point. Thanks for all your help. I am sure your workaround would work, but rather than mess about in Ccleaner I will simply disable the sync Favorites bit in iTunes for now.

Thanks again - much appreciated

Gareth

Gareth, you could add the .dat files to a CCleaner "Include" if you know their location:

"CCleaner\Options\Include Files or Folders."

You would need to check the "Custom Files And Folders" box in "CCleaner\Windows\Advanced" for the "Include" to work, and I don't know if these files would be "in use" if iTunes was closed, but it might be worth trying.

Post back if need more advice.