Retrieving accidentally deleted IE history

[hopeful]

Hi!

I have a question about viewing deleted IE history. (My OS is XP, with SP3, and IE is #7.)

I have been doing a lot of research, and was paring down my IE history so that I would be able to easily access the pages I knew had been helpful, should I need to go back to them.

Under each day of the week, I was deleting each site one-by-one, as I decided if it was worth keeping for future reference or not. I usually started with the first site under the "day" (i.e., Mon, Tues, ...), and worked down. Under Wednesday, I was deleting the unnecessary sites, and instead of deleting the first one listed "under" Wednesday, I deleted "Wednesday" (thus my cursor was one-too-high, and instead of deleting a single site visited on Wed, I deleted the whole 'category' of Wed). All of the sites visited during that day (hundreds) vanished, of course.

I am hoping and praying that there is a way to get them back. I am heartsick, as I visited a lot of sites knowing that I could go back to them should I need to, so didn't take down the info that I was considering.

Is there a way to retrieve the history that was deleted?

I have done a little bit of research online regarding this, but have found nothing. I found a reference to searching my hard drive for "index.dat" files (making sure to view hidden files), but the results brought up only two files, one for a year ago, and one for 8/12, which would be too old. Might I be overlooking something? Shouldn't there be something recent/current?

I am unsure, though, what to "do" with the index.dat files, if I can locate something relevant. Might someone be able to educate me about how to effectively utilize them?

If I am missing some index.dat files, is there an (easy) undelete tool that can find any "missing" index.dat files? (which would then need a reader).

I have also seen reference to using .dat-reading software, but no one has mentioned a specific program. Is there an easy program (for a non-technical person!) that reads these files? If so, I can imagine that the index.dat files have a lot of information in them -- is there a program that shows the *date* that the sites were visited, so that I can narrow it down and zoom in on Wed's?

I also saw reference (many places!) to doing a system restore, and going back to prior to the deletion, and I did that, but the advice was wrong, as Wednesday was also missing when I went back to an older restore point.

I also went to c:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\History, but "Wednesday" was missing there, as well.

Might you be able to educate me about the above questions, and, perhaps more than that, offer advice about other things I might be able to do?

Here are my questions in a nutshell:
- In general: is there a way to retrieve deleted IE history?
- Should I be able to find a more recent index.dat file? How might I do that? Might I need an undelete program? (And if I do, is there an [easy] one suggested for retrieving these files?)
- How do you deal with index.dat files once found? Is there an easy program for reading them? Does the program list the date associated with them, so that I can look for the specific date?
- Am I going down the wrong path?
- Are there better, easier, more appropriate ways for finding deleted IE history?
- Could you educate me about the things I don't even know to ask about? (I am not tech-literate, so baby-steps would be wonderful!)

I am just panicked about it, as there is no way to retrace my steps, or duplicate all of the work and research. As I mentioned, I took comfort in knowing that there was a record of where I had been, so that once I got further into the research, I could better decide what information I needed from each site, and go back.

Thank you, so very much! I just can't tell you what it means!

So very gratefully,

Karen

[Fusion]

Try downloading this -->> WinSpy Index.dat Viewer 3.02 <<--

Install -> Open -> Click the 'Index dat' tab -> Ok

Maximise window for easier viewing.

This may reveal what you want. If you see a URL address you are familiar with, D/click the entry. It will open your browser. If it's the web page(s) you're after, save as a 'Favorite' for future use.

Hope it helps.

[hopeful]

Hi Fusion!

Thank you for such a fast response!

I downloaded and installed the program, and it says I have thousands of records, and since I don't know the specific names of any of the sites I visited that day, I wouldn't be able to recognize anything without the date that it was visited being listed, too.

Is there a index.dat file reader that includes the date that a site was visited, so it can be narrowed down?

I have to thank you for giving me hope. I have been so heartsick, as the research is so important, and the IE history is critical.

Thank you oh so very much for helping me try to find an answer!

So very gratefully,

Karen

[Fusion]

You could try this -->> Index.dat Analyzer 2.5 <<-- which has the ability to show a date 'Accessed' field.

Once opened, you will need to click in the 'Location Bar', then scroll down to your ....<font color="blue">C:\Documents and Settings\<font color="red">USER_NAME</font>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat</font>.... to see what you want.