IE 7 History Missing after using CCleaner

[Jamin4u]

These are index.dat files that you should have already deleted. See Post #5

Marked for deletion: C:\Documents and Settings\XXXuser\LocalSettings\Temporary InternetFiles\Content.IE5\index.dat

Marked for deletion: C:\Documents and Settings\XXXuser\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\desktop.ini

Marked for deletion: C:\Documents and Settings\XXXuser\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\index.dat

I've tired everything you both have suggested and so far it hasn't made any difference.

Try a couple more things: Index.dat Suite application (Freeware) because it finds more .dat files and does all users.

http://support.it-mate.co.uk/?mode=Product...=index.datsuite

Download Basic Install or No Install: For the No Install zip file, unzip to desired location and double click on the ID Suite icon in folder.

Click on the cog wheel and uncheck all Folder options>save (let CCleaner handle theses). Don't change any other settings unless you know what you are changing. Select Drive>Click on find>When its finished searching, click on the black icon on top toolbar(second from the left) to generate file>Reboot>Surf>Look for history.

Do you use IE7Pro? If so, do as davey suggested.

IE7Pro Privacy options should be off.

Internet Options > Advanced > Restore advanced settings>OK

If all else fails!

Did you try a system restore to before CCleaner?

Good Luck,

Jamin4u

[davey]

I've tired everything you both have suggested and so far it hasn't made any difference.

We know it frustrating at times.

The problem you are having is not caused by CCleaner.

It is something that occurred on or about the same day.

I'll give this suggestion a try and let you know if it works or not.

When I copy the history folder from another user, I'm not actually copying that history - just the folder that then makes my history appear. I still have all of my history and it re-appears after I do this. I guess it's just the folder that reads your history and allows it to appear.

We'll see what happens.....

Hi hesyst.

The Recent folder and History folder have been the biggest headaches for me, personally and when trying to help others with similar problems. It does not require drastic solutions.

In most cases it just takes the right bits to be reset or correcting or letting Windows correct something that is not quite right. Windows does some strange things when things get jumbled and sometimes it takes a little time and use and it "corrects" things. Don't be surprised to find some folders and things tucked into strange places in the future. Believe me, you will find this out.

There is another thing to try but let us see what happens.

davey

[seagull]

We know it frustrating at times.

The problem you are having is not caused by CCleaner.

It is something that occurred on or about the same day.

Hi hesyst.

The Recent folder and History folder have been the biggest headaches for me, personally and when trying to help others with similar problems. It does not require drastic solutions.

In most cases it just takes the right bits to be reset or correcting or letting Windows correct something that is not quite right. Windows does some strange things when things get jumbled and sometimes it takes a little time and use and it "corrects" things. Don't be surprised to find some folders and things tucked into strange places in the future. Believe me, you will find this out.

There is another thing to try but let us see what happens.

davey

OK ... firstly I have to admit that I don't know much about computers! But I was having exactly the same problems & have just resolved them... so I thought I'd share in the hope that it might help someone else!

I had scoured the forums for a solution & tried several that didn't work.

I had just done the following:

Internet Options > Advanced > Restore custom settings>OK

Then I noticed your sentence;

The problem you are having is not caused by CCleaner.

It is something that occurred on or about the same day.

... and had an 'AH HA!' moment.

(I'm not 100% sure if this would have worked on its own or if it was a combination of the two, which is why I'm including both)

I remembered that just after I installed CCleaner, in an attempt to resolve other problems I was having with my pc, I also installed 'Spyware Doctor'.

So.... I went to that programme & disabled all it's functions. Then I re-booted my computer.

Bingo!

My history has reappeared

My temporary internet files (which were also missing) have reappeared

My cookies are showing in the CCleaner 'cookie to delete / cookies to keep' list

My computer is storing cookies / passwords etc when instructed to do so (previously they were disappearing every time I closed a site, so that I had to keep re-entering them)

I'm thinking that either there was a conflict between the two programmes or that I was attributing problems caused by the Spyware programme to CCleaner. I don't know enough about computer programmes to determine which...

Anyway ... it worked for me so if anyone with similar problems has spyware protection installed it might be worth checking if there's a link.

Good Luck!

I'm SO happy!!

[davey]

OK ... firstly I have to admit that I don't know much about computers! But I was having exactly the same problems & have just resolved them... so I thought I'd share in the hope that it might help someone else!

I had scoured the forums for a solution & tried several that didn't work.

I had just done the following:

Internet Options > Advanced > Restore custom settings>OK

Then I noticed your sentence;

The problem you are having is not caused by CCleaner.

It is something that occurred on or about the same day.

... and had an 'AH HA!' moment.

(I'm not 100% sure if this would have worked on its own or if it was a combination of the two, which is why I'm including both)

I remembered that just after I installed CCleaner, in an attempt to resolve other problems I was having with my pc, I also installed 'Spyware Doctor'.

So.... I went to that programme & disabled all it's functions. Then I re-booted my computer.

Bingo!

My history has reappeared

My temporary internet files (which were also missing) have reappeared

My cookies are showing in the CCleaner 'cookie to delete / cookies to keep' list

My computer is storing cookies / passwords etc when instructed to do so (previously they were disappearing every time I closed a site, so that I had to keep re-entering them)

I'm thinking that either there was a conflict between the two programmes or that I was attributing problems caused by the Spyware programme to CCleaner. I don't know enough about computer programmes to determine which...

Anyway ... it worked for me so if anyone with similar problems has spyware protection installed it might be worth checking if there's a link.

Good Luck!

I'm SO happy!!

Right on SEAGULL.

All these other guys and gals are extremely happy to have been of service.

[Jamin4u]

hesyst, another member with a very similar problem as yours, has had success by doing the following.

First: Restore your advanced settings in IE7. (suggested by davey)

Internet Options>Advanced>Restore advanced settings>OK

Second: Think about when you first started having problems.

The problem you are having is not caused by CCleaner.

It is something that occurred on or about the same day.

Did you add any software?

I remembered that just after I installed CCleaner, in an attempt to resolve other problems I was having with my pc, I also installed 'Spyware Doctor'.

If you did add software then disable it.

Reboot>Surf>Look for history.

You might do this one at a time to pin point the cause.

I hope this does it.

[hesyst]

It didn't do it - I tried all of the above steps - but to no avail. The problem didn't go away unless I copied the history folder over from the new user I created - then it worked fine keeping all of my history that was already there and adding to it each day.

No - I didn't install any other software programs before the history "disappeared" - It happened right after I installed and ran CCleaner the first time.

Here's what I've discovered. My history folder (with all of my history in it) as well as the Cookies folder were still located in my Local Settings\Temp folder (a carryover from IE6 maybe???). I looked at the settings in IE7 and they're supposed to be in the Local Settings folder (cookies in teh Temporary Internet Files folder.

Ran CCleaner and it confirms that the history. index. dat and desktop.ini files are where they are supposed to be - but they are apparently blank.

Checked the registry settings - they are consisient with CCleaner's analysis.

So that explains why I could copy the History folder from another user and get my old history back - it must somehow "point" to the other folder. I was unable to find any reference to that anywhere in my registry - but still that's where it's located.

So what happened? Not sure - somehow no matter what I did my history would remain in that subfolder of the Local Settings\Temp folder.

I finally gave up on trying to diagnose this any further.

I removed IE7 - which wasn't easy - it couldn't be removed from Add/Remove Programs - so I had to do it with the Recovery Console.

Then I did a repair installation of XP using the slipstreamed SP3 disc I created when I upgraded to SP3 .

After that I did a new installation of IE7 - and eveything now works as it should now.

History can be seen in IE7 - it's located in the proper folder - and all is well.

Time spent trying to diagnose the problem - many days and hours...

Time spent removing IE7 & reinstalling XP - less than 2 hours....

A drastic measure that I really didn't want to do at all in case ti screwed some other programs up- but it was worth it sine it solved the problem and everything else seems to be working as it should. The only thing I had to do after the repair install was delete and reinstall my Norton Internet Security 2008 and do a bunch of updates for that. Every other program that I've tried seems to be working normally so far.....

So - did CCleaner cause the problem? Most likely not - BUT there was something in there that was making the history work properly even though it was in the wrong location - and I'd say that CCleaner probably took out something in one of the index.dat files (or the registry) that made it all happen.

Not a mistake by the CCleaner program - but it changed the settings on my particular computer so that it didn't work right.

Now everything seems to be where it should be and is working fine. At least so far.......

Seems like this might be a fairly common problem based on the number of view this post has had so far....

[maffw]

I had this problem after running CCleaner on Windows XP Professional service pack 2 the other week and discovered this thread via Google when looking for a solution, although nothing in the above worked (apart from a re-install of XP but that's far too drastic!).

So I tried an experiment and for me I have cured the problem by deleting the hidden desktop.ini file in the folder above the history store

To do this, close IE7, then you need to open a command prompt in Windows via Start | Run | type Cmd in the box.

Hopefully this will open a command prompt already in the

c:\documents and settings\[user name]\ folder

Change the command prompt's directory to the local settings folder by typing

cd local settings

then type

attrib -h -s desktop.ini

to remove the hidden and system settings of desktop.ini

then type

del desktop.ini

to delete it.

Reboot the computer, restart IE7, history functionalilty seems to be restored and the desktop.ini file appears to be recreated by Windows XP.

Hope that helps.