Images from browser: where are they stored?

Hello.

I hope this is the right forum to place this in.

I downloaded a little program that recovers deleted images and when I ran the program I noticed that many of the images it recovered were not images that I deleted from the recycle bin but images that the browser was downloading as I visted various pages. I tried searching for where the images are being stored but so far I can't seem to locate the folder(s). Can you tell me where these images are stored? I think they are automatically being deleted after each page visit because when I try search for the images in explorer it doesn't return any of those browser images. It's more my curiosity than anything else....

My browser is firefox and the program is called Zero Assumption Digital Image Recovery.

Thanks.

Hi Welcome to AO

Quote:

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Where does my Web browser store images?

Where are images stored that I visit when surfing the web? I understand that they are cached somewhere. Are all images cached for all sites that you visit?

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, the images are stored under a hidden folder under each users profile. The folder is C:\Documents and Settings\(username)\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files.

Warning: The Local Settings folder is a hidden folder, you will need to make it visible before you can actually see what's in it. With Windows Explorer open, click Tools --> Folder Options--> the View tab --> Show Hidden Files and Folders

By contrast, viewing the Firefox cache is quite easy: Just type "about:cache" into the address bar (without quotes). Under the heading "Disk Cache Device", the "Cache Directory" shows where the cache is located, although just looking at that directory doesn't show anything other than indecipherable filenames. You click the "List Cache Entries" link, which will show individual entries and the http address which they are caching.

To drop the cache, the best method is to go to click Tools: Options menu item and the Cache item in the Privacy section of the Options dialog. Click Clear to reset the cache.

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Where does my web broswer store images

Hope this helps.... ;)

Yes, that does help. I should have searched using my very own thread title. :rolleyes:

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

So if I wanted those images gone I should simply erase the cache... I opened those cache files with notepad and the gif files and whatnot are indeed there.

Thanks again, that's all I wanted to know for now.

:)

Hi,

The program you are using to recover these files is not actually recovering them the program is just locating where those files are located on your hard drive just so you know.

Like you said you can simply erase your cache but please be aware that there are programs that work simular to the one that you downloaded that can recover deleted data from your hard drive even through you have deleted your cache.

This works because when a file is deleted its contents aren't immediately destroyed windows just simply marks the hard drive space as not in use and eventually your deleted data will start to become overwritten as of the more files that you delete but even when data files are badly overwritten their content's can still be recovered with specialised software and the know how.

So for added security you might like to try some nice programs that i use which are for windows these are :

Webroot Software's Window Washer: which is used to securely clear your web browsing data and also works with Firefox.

and

Eraser: Which securely deletes data files from windows.

These two programs work by encrypting the data several times over before deleting it so commerical software programs cannot recover the contents of the data.

I just thaught that i would bring this to your attention just in case you did'nt already know this seeing as you seem worried about your data being recovered.

Hi Youngnobody,

Not meaning to hi-jack your parade, but they work slightly different to how you described.

They don't encrypt the data several times, they simply overwrite the data with random data, several times over, (I think 7 times is the standard for completely obliterating data short of destroying the drive) before then deleting that section.

The reason for this is that like you said, if you simply just delete that data, it is still there, just the index entry to it is deleted. Even if you overwrite that physical section of the hard disk once or twice, some of the data can still be restored. After seven new writes to that section the data is considered totally gone with almost nothing left (although i'm sure there are some advanced and VERY expensive techniques to recover it though)