Under Tools Options (Windows XP Home), when I hit "clear history", the
hourglass appears and does not go away. I think I (later) actually manually
deleted the files, by using the history icon, but it still hangs up. I
deleted temp files and cookies with no problems.

The computer sounds like it is thinking during all this time, but nothing
gets accomplished (20 minutes, also 4 tries later). I can close out of it
and internet explorer and the computer is then still alive. Could it be
that a parasite or virus is stopping this from working (I just did scans of
both)? Or could I have compromised this button somehow?

Thanks for your help!
Dean

Hi Dean :-)

Your History folder may be corrupted. Try creating a new one and see if that
helps:

To create a new History Folder
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/answers_8.htm#deltree
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm (XP systems)

or..

To delete the History folder and index.dat (XP)
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

Log on as Administrator and delete the desired <username> folder and reboot.
(or log on as another user that has Administrator privileges)
Example: "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\HISTORY"

Hope this helps :-)

Jan
Smiles are meant to be shared,
that's why they're so contagious.

Replies are posted only to the newsgroup for the benefit or other readers.
How to make a good newsgroup post:
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm



> Under Tools Options (Windows XP Home), when I hit "clear history", the
> hourglass appears and does not go away. I think I (later) actually
> manually deleted the files, by using the history icon, but it still hangs
> up. I deleted temp files and cookies with no problems.
>
> The computer sounds like it is thinking during all this time, but nothing
> gets accomplished (20 minutes, also 4 tries later). I can close out of it
> and internet explorer and the computer is then still alive. Could it be
> that a parasite or virus is stopping this from working (I just did scans
> of both)? Or could I have compromised this button somehow?
>
> Thanks for your help!
> Dean
>
>
>

Your link (for XP) says:
To delete the History folder and index.dat (XP)

a.. Log on as Administrator and delete the desired <username> folder and
reboot.
(or log on as another user that has Administrator privileges)
Example: "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\HISTORY"

The instructions above kind of suggests they want to me to delete the entire
username folder, whereas the "example" suggests it is just the history
folder within that username. Assuming it is the latter, it will not let me
delete the history folder. It says something like "history is a necessary
Windows system folder and is required for Windows operation and cannot be
deleted"

What should I do?

Dean


"Jan Il" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi Dean :-)
>
> Your History folder may be corrupted. Try creating a new one and see if
> that helps:
>
> To create a new History Folder
> http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/answers_8.htm#deltree
> http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm (XP systems)
>
> or..
>
> To delete the History folder and index.dat (XP)
> http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm
>
> Log on as Administrator and delete the desired <username> folder and
> reboot.
> (or log on as another user that has Administrator privileges)
> Example: "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\HISTORY"
>
> Hope this helps :-)
>
> Jan
> Smiles are meant to be shared,
> that's why they're so contagious.
>
> Replies are posted only to the newsgroup for the benefit or other readers.
> How to make a good newsgroup post:
> http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>
>
>
>> Under Tools Options (Windows XP Home), when I hit "clear history", the
>> hourglass appears and does not go away. I think I (later) actually
>> manually deleted the files, by using the history icon, but it still hangs
>> up. I deleted temp files and cookies with no problems.
>>
>> The computer sounds like it is thinking during all this time, but nothing
>> gets accomplished (20 minutes, also 4 tries later). I can close out of
>> it and internet explorer and the computer is then still alive. Could it
>> be that a parasite or virus is stopping this from working (I just did
>> scans of both)? Or could I have compromised this button somehow?
>>
>> Thanks for your help!
>> Dean
>>
>>
>>
>
>

OK, I did manage to delete the history folder (via admin and safe mode) and
things seem fine. However, I now notice that, when I click Clear History,
and then click on that History icon at the top of IE6, sometimes the files
have not cleared one bit (seems to do nothing when my computer has been on
for awhile), whereas other times, it works (mostly, soon after rebooting).

Can anyone explain this - PLEASE.

Thanks!
Dean


"Dean" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:P7mdnU94rqsisv3fRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Your link (for XP) says:
> To delete the History folder and index.dat (XP)
>
> a.. Log on as Administrator and delete the desired <username> folder and
> reboot.
> (or log on as another user that has Administrator privileges)
> Example: "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\HISTORY"
>
> The instructions above kind of suggests they want to me to delete the
> entire username folder, whereas the "example" suggests it is just the
> history folder within that username. Assuming it is the latter, it will
> not let me delete the history folder. It says something like "history is
> a necessary Windows system folder and is required for Windows operation
> and cannot be deleted"
>
> What should I do?
>
> Dean
>
>
> "Jan Il" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hi Dean :-)
>>
>> Your History folder may be corrupted. Try creating a new one and see if
>> that helps:
>>
>> To create a new History Folder
>> http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/answers_8.htm#deltree
>> http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm (XP systems)
>>
>> or..
>>
>> To delete the History folder and index.dat (XP)
>> http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm
>>
>> Log on as Administrator and delete the desired <username> folder and
>> reboot.
>> (or log on as another user that has Administrator privileges)
>> Example: "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\HISTORY"
>>
>> Hope this helps :-)
>>
>> Jan
>> Smiles are meant to be shared,
>> that's why they're so contagious.
>>
>> Replies are posted only to the newsgroup for the benefit or other
>> readers.
>> How to make a good newsgroup post:
>> http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>>
>>
>>
>>> Under Tools Options (Windows XP Home), when I hit "clear history", the
>>> hourglass appears and does not go away. I think I (later) actually
>>> manually deleted the files, by using the history icon, but it still
>>> hangs up. I deleted temp files and cookies with no problems.
>>>
>>> The computer sounds like it is thinking during all this time, but
>>> nothing gets accomplished (20 minutes, also 4 tries later). I can close
>>> out of it and internet explorer and the computer is then still alive.
>>> Could it be that a parasite or virus is stopping this from working (I
>>> just did scans of both)? Or could I have compromised this button
>>> somehow?
>>>
>>> Thanks for your help!
>>> Dean
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

There are several programs out there that will interfere with IE's History
and the ability to clear it:
http://www.purgeie.com/lockhist.htm - has examples, and is probably not a
full list.
See the "How to determine which program is locking your I.E. History"
section towards the bottom for troubleshooting advice. PurgeIE is a good
choice for cleaning up IE's History, etc. as is http://www.tweakie.com For
a freeware app, check out - http://www.ccleaner.com

This also may be caused by spyware/malware that's gotten installed on
your system. Use Ad-Aware and/or Spybot Search & Destroy to remove it.

Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Good sites on how to install and use Spybot -
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/tutorial/index.html
http://tomcoyote.com/SPYBOT/index1.php

Also download a winsock repair tool, to have just in case cleaning up
anything found breaks it -

Winsock repair tools:
LSPFix- all versions of Windows http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.zip
Winsock2 Fix- Win98, ME
http://www.bu.edu/pcsc/internetaccess/winsock2fix.html
LavaSoft- all versions of Windows-
http://digital-solutions.co.uk/lavasoft/whndnfix.zip

More information here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/Darnit.htm
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/ - runs a little script when loading page to
check for common parasites

If no joy, in IE go to Tools...Internet Options...Advanced tab, Browsing
section, uncheck "Enable third-party browser extensions", click Apply, click
Okay, reboot. If that solves your problem, then more troubleshooting is
needed to find out exactly which program, or Browser Helper Object (BHO) is
causing this problem. You don't want to leave it at that, as some BHOs are
useful or necessary - like Adobe Acrobat for reading .pdf files or an
essential component of Norton AV. Get BHODemon -
http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm - read all about BHOs.
Disable all items, and then gradually replace one or two at a time to narrow
down the culprit.

Or if you have IE 6 SP-2 you can do this within the browser:
How to manage Internet Explorer add-ons in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;883256

If all the above fails, then the problem could be something new that the
spyware cleaners above don't have in their databases yet. In that case....
HijackThis direct download:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip
Tutorial on how to use HijackThis:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.html
Then post it's output log to the forum here for analysis and feedback by the
parasite experts:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
Or the other HijackThis Logs forums listed here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/forums.html

Or try this program to get some of the most nasty malware:
CWShredder direct download:
http://aumha.org/downloads/cwshredder.zip

An alternate resource for all of this and more:
http://www.aumha.org/secure.htm


--

Jon R. Kennedy
Charlotte, NC, USA
(E-Mail Removed)

"Dean" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Q5GdnbLqoaJz9x_fRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> OK, I did manage to delete the history folder (via admin and safe mode)
> and things seem fine. However, I now notice that, when I click Clear
> History, and then click on that History icon at the top of IE6, sometimes
> the files have not cleared one bit (seems to do nothing when my computer
> has been on for awhile), whereas other times, it works (mostly, soon after
> rebooting).
>
> Can anyone explain this - PLEASE.
>
> Thanks!
> Dean
>
>