IE for 9.2.2 and caching e-mail!

[MamaMoose]

I use IE 5.1.6 as my browser in OS 9.2.2and have considerable difficulty lately. Several times a session, the system would freeze (the mose still worked) and I had to reboot. After rebooting, IE's Download Cache and IE Cache .lck which are called Web Archive Fileswould appear as rescued items in trash.

I then got to using macWasher to clean out the cache. I noticed that the first thing it did was to delete the IE Download Cache which contained 10 MB of info!. So, using Sherlock, I went searching for these two bad boys and found all thge cache files but one contained 4 KB. There was one, IE Cache.waf, that contained 10 MB. Also, I would clean the caches, reboot and immediately info IE cache.WAF and sure enough it contained 10 MB of data.. Curioser and curioser.

I then used CanOpener 4 to read IE Cache.waf and much to my surprise, the cache contained all my e-mail including URL's, text, attachments etc. My e-mail client is Eudora so how the heck did IE readand store my e-mail content?

I am convinced that IE cache.waf is the culprit but I do not know how to get rid of it.Also, I am deeply suspicious of Microsoft who I suspect is collecting and then downloading my e-mail to their own site!!!!

I would like some comments as to 1) how do I get rid of IE Cache.waf that fills to 10 MB as soon as I open IE 5.1.6,  2) Is Microsoft using that filr to transmit my e-mail to their own sites, 3) Am I going to have to switch to a new browser (Oy!)?

A paranoic MamaMoose

[Bernie]

Hmm? I'm running the same IE and Os. Now I'm wondering

[Paddy]

MamaMoose, the cache.waf file will be as big as you set it to be - in the Preferences ->Advanced. Set the cache to be 5MB, and your cache.waf file will be 5 MB. Set it to 0 - the cache.waf file will be 0. Some people set their caches to 0 - I never do, but I do occasionally empty the cache - in the Preferences, Advanced, especially if IE is slow or not loading images. Deleting it occasionally is also good.

As for Eudora and the cache.waf file, you got me! I have no idea why your email is there, but you can be darn sure that Microsoft isn't trying to read your email! Given that 95% of the world seems to use IE...well, it would be a task of Herculean proportions, even if it was possible. Did a search with Google and still couldn't find out anything - no connections mentioned.

Some interesting stuff about speeding up IE here:

http://www.lowendmac.com/ibasics/010221.html

[Diana]

Hi,

Some while back I learned about what IE and Outlook do on Windows machines. I wondered at the time if they did something similar on Macs.

I'm including this link to a story about the _really hidden_ files on Windows machines, the ones undocumented by MS.

 MS Hidden Files

Note: this is long and will probably only interest the paranoid.

But, it may start some searching to see if they find the same thing on Macs.

Second Note: the site above was not the original site hosting the information and instructions. I found that it duplicated the original though so posting the above link saved us the aggravation of looking at the name of the originating domain.    You'll still see it though, so be prepared.

MamaMoose, I also used Eudora for years, and I found hidden caches created  by it on my windows machine

I found it easy to fix my Win98 hard disk because none of these files were hidden from Linux's view.    

see ya,
Diana

[Paddy]

Just did some pretty extensive searches on the drives and partitions not in use (and therefore have all files visible, even if they're not normally) - checked all temp and temporary, IE, Internet Explorer etc....nothing out of the ordinary. I did find one folder - Users->(me)->Library->Preferences->Explorer->Temporary which consisted of 5,297 items for a total of 66MB, almost all of them Flash banners and so on from various sites. Tons of them...but that was it. I guess if I'd been cruising porn sites, they'd be a lot more exciting than the endless Adobe and Amazon ones I seem to have in there!  

There may be other stuff somewhere, but I'm not going to spend any more time looking for it. I found quite enough junk that I really ought to get rid of along the way (like what the heck is IE 4.5 still doing on my 9.2.2 partition??). A major spring cleaning is in order - but not one driven by fear of the evil empire!