Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
•. Records.of.what.applications.have.been.installed,.when.
and.where.they.are.located.in.the.directory.system
•. Records.of.when.applications.were.last.accessed
•. Records.of.who.logged.in.when.as.well.as.what.net-
works. or. shared. directories. they. were. connected. to.
when.they.logged.in
•. And.much.more.that.can.be.of.great.interest.to.some-
one.with.the.tools.and.expertise.to.winnow.that.data.
from.the.registry.in.order.to.understand.who.has.done.
what.on.that.computer
Other.iles.that.are.hidden.are.the.iles.that.contain.infor-
mation. about. your. Internet. browsing.. These. are. stored. in.
small. lat. database. iles. with. a.dat. extension. on. a. Windows.
operating.system.computer..For.Internet.Explorer.these.iles.
are.most.often.called.index.dat.and.are.stored.in.various.hid-
den.folders.depending.on.their.speciic.purpose.
One.folder.is.for.your.Internet.history,.and.with.Internet.
Explorer. the. index.dat. ile. in. that. folder. contains. the.
information. you. see. when. you. select. History. from. your.
Internet.browser's.menu.
Other.browsers.use.different.storage.mechanisms,.but.in.
every. case. these. are. not. iles. that. you. can. simply. ind. and.
open.on.your.own..Some.of.them.are.made.available.through.
the. interface. of. your. browser.. History. is. one,. and. another.
common.one.would.be.the.cookies.ile.
Cookies.are.small.text.iles.created.by.Web.sites..They.con-
tain. information. about. your. access. to. the. Web. sites. with. the.
purpose.of.speeding.up.your.access.when.you.visit.the.same.site.
later..They.can.however.be.less.benevolent.and.store.informa-
tion.about.your.browsing.history.with.the.intent.to.know.what.
you.purchase.and.target.advertising.toward.those.favorite.items.
So,.cookies.though.generally.benign.can.be.used.in.more.
malevolent.ways,.and.there.are.reasons.sometimes.for.you.to.
check.them.and.possibly.remove.them..Many.modern.antivi-
rus.programs.will.look.for.the.malevolent.versions.of.cookies.
(sometimes.called.“tracking.cookies”).and.delete.them.for.you.