The Really Hidden Files...

[Zadok0552]

regarding the POTENTIAL for a trojan in purgie...

The PestPatrol tech support folks have given the program a clean bill of health.

They should apologize to Jim Lawler, the creator of PurgeIE. He was very helpful in straightening this out.

I like his program, and will continue to use it. PurgIE seems to do a great job deleting the leftovers that IE uses for cache purposes and other reasons.

http://www.purgeie.com

I was affraid of this type false alarm causing problems for good people.

[stephenlefave]

Great post.. now where are those damn folders ...heheh

[TheCanCerMan]

How does one locate theses hidden folders/files that seem to be sleeping in the background ?

[darkes]

Originally posted here by TheCanCerMan
How does one locate theses hidden folders/files that seem to be sleeping in the background ?

Not quite sure what you were asking.
The txt file attached to the first post explains what to look for.

However if you want to look from scratch, then open a DOS window under Windows (don’t know if this will work under WindowsXP as it only emulates DOS) - may need to boot from a DOS floppy.
From the C:\WINDOWS prompt enter DIR /AS (to look for system files) - these are the ‘hidden’ directories that have been mentioned.
Next select one, e.g. TEMPOR~1 by entering CD TEMPOR~1, and enter DIR /AS again.
In this case CD CONTENT.IE5 will take you to the relevant directory.
Now entering DIR will show the INDEX.DAT file, and DIR /AS will show you all the temporary cache directories that have been created. You can browse or edit these directories to see what they contain.
If you want to delete them then a DELTREE *.* at this point will remove them (it will prompt you for each directory, so you can be sure you are not accidentally trashing your HDD!)
You won’t be able to delete the INDEX.DAT files, as these are in use by Windows itself.
To delete these you need to boot in DOS mode (or restart in MSDOS mode in Windows98).

For emails, you need to locate all copies of the folders that you are using to save your inbox, deleted files etc. AFAIK all normal email applications store these as a text file, so you can easily browse it and see what it contains. None of these files are hidden, but in a work environment there will be additional copies on the server, so deleting your personal copy won’t make any difference (assuming your sysadmin knows his job!)

[zaddikim]

Just to let you know, THEJRC, no heat from me...

I agree with your comments. With the exception of the current <euphemism>fluff</euphemism> flying around
regarding P2P hacking by the Corps, a little logging can be a good thing. If someone's got illicit messages/pr0n/
<insert possibly illegal whatever here> flying around, and they're getting nervous and/or indignant, there's
probably a good reason. This medium (the Internet in general, that is) was meant as a source of information,
education and (eventually) entertainment. What I find ironic is that since it was a DARPA project (if anyone
wants me to wax historical about this in detail, let me know), then gradually released into the public domain,
the technology that was meant to "keep clear and reliable means of communication" to the Armed Forces
has now turned around, in the hands of certain people, to bite them in the ass. Please excuse the
inappropriate language (I do try to keep on-line language cleaner than in real-life). Striking a balance is
the key here, folks. As a Canadian, I don't have a voice in the process the way Americans do. As amusing
as it would be to e-mail a senator or Congressional Rep (hmm, Washington State's pretty close...),
I really don't need to be raided by The Man for an unsolicited harassment from another country. If there's a way
to involve Canucks, I'm sure there'd be quite a few of us getting behind you guys. I've seen the petition URL's
floating around the forums regarding the bill/s before the House/Congress(?), and if there was only one thing I
can truly admire about the American democratic process (there is more than one, BTW) is that the voice of the
people can be very powerful, if properly applied. Band together, work with the system (it can be done) and
I'm sure there's a way to craft a bill that can be a deterrent to electronic terrorism (in its' myriad forms) without
turning well-intentioned geeks (wear that badge proudly, brothers and sisters!) into criminals by definition.

Phew! I really have to keep that verbal diarrhea i check.
Donning his asbestos jammies,

zaddikim

bids you good night

[The_Magistrate]

I believe that Microsoft is monitoring e-mails and internet browsing habits, but anyone who lives in the US is under that kind of scruteny from the government too. The US government passed a law after 9-11 that allows them to monitor e-mails, internet habits, cell phone calls, credit-card bills, and even what books you check out of the library.

For example, take cell phone calls. The US government has computers running through the cell frequencies listening in on conversations. If it hears a trigger-word(i.e. bomb, nuke, target, explosion, terrorist....) then it flags the person who said the word in a database on the computer. Too many flags and you get investigated by the F.B.I. They say it's for national security, but I say it's a little too far. I doubt that a person is sitting at a computer listening to me talking to my girlfriend, but I don't even want to have to think about even the *possability* of someone listening to my private conversations.

So, it's not just Microsoft out to destroy privacy, the US government is on that boat too.

[darkes]

In reply to The_Magistrate & zaddikim about emails/net/phone activity being logged.
It is a legal requirement of ISPs & phone companies in the US & Europe to keep a log of all activity. This data has to be divulged to certain law enforcement government agencies if they request it.
What has got people worried is that recently, both the US & the UK have put forward bills to allow any government agency access to this information without going through the courts. The UK government said it was 'surprised' at the number of protests from civil rights groups etc. over its proposals to make this data available to any person who works for the government.
There is a similar bill in the US which is going through the Senate at the moment (quote from Electronic Frontier Foundation ) - permission is given to freely reproduce their material:
"On July 15, 2002, the House of Representatives passed the Cyber Security Enhancement Act (CSEA) in a landslide vote of 385-3. CSEA is a bill that, among other things, makes it easy for the government to get your electronic communications without a warrant or probable
cause. Here's a brief summary:
- If CSEA is passed by the Senate, your stored communications like voicemail and email will be available to any "government entity" (not just law enforcement agencies) that can convince your service provider that releasing your personal information is necessary to prevent "death or serious physical injury." Instead of appearing before a judge and getting a warrant, any government agent may be able to get your information for nothing more than a scary story that might never get checked against the evidence."

The reason for this is supposed to be to combat terrorism.
Draw your own conclusions .....

[DBEAUCHAMP]

With all that, it's quite obvious that MS apps keeps all kinds of user habits information onto your personnal computer. I don't really believe that they have the time to check everything that goes through the net since it would be a hell of a job...

The thing I hate the most, is that they take avantage of Net newbies that don't understand **** about all the security issues out there. In IE, your search for a web site, if it's spelt badly you get to a search page in a form format... Where does the post go ? Don't know, and I don't wanna know !

Anyway, a lot of 3rd party apps exist out there to help you clean you PC even at a raw level. Some bad minds would use it to erase their trace (don't even think about it, you may erase what's on your disks, but you still went through the net and your MAC adress won't change... think about it).

Personnaly I've tried Evidence Eliminator http://www.evidence-eliminator.com . It's a real good product to erase all the garbage left by your applications and gain a little performance at the same time...

Enjoy !

[yanksfan]

Originally posted here by DBEAUCHAMP
[B]...don't even think about it, you may erase what's on your disks, but you still went through the net and your MAC adress won't change... think about it

I agree, and, although I don't know exactly how those evidence eliminator programs work, unless it over-writes the deleted data many times, it is still possible to retrieve that data....i.e. by the fbi/nsa....

[darkes]

I'm sure that products like Evidence Eliminator do a good job - looks like it uses reasonable data wiping techniques (DoD approved, which will defeat any normal hacker).
I don't think that MS deliberately set out to log info about you, but like a lot of apps they are not very good about garbage removal (and yes, this does apply to a lot of*nix software as well!). Which means that your HDD ends up with all sorts of footprints about what you have used it for. On an unsecured PC connected to the net, this info can be hacked, or the data can be recovered if you sell your PC or have it repaired.

Securing your PC and getting rid of the garbage is not likely to help much if you are using it for something illegal, as there are all sorts of other ways of finding out what you were doing.
However, it will protect against attempts to steal your CC details, online banking details, personal emails etc. - and if you are sending emails that are personal/confidential then you should be using something like PGP anyway.