Hi Jenny--
Your kids have probably not hidden TIFs from you at all but they may well
have erased them every time they visit a site they think mom wouldn't
approve.
If your teenagers are savy enough to delete history, I'm willing to bet that
they can delete tifs. In Vista, to find TIFs are located at these two file
paths:
*Location of Temporary Internet Files:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet
Files\
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet
Files\Low\
To see them you have to type "control folders" (lose the quotes) in your run
box>View tab>Advanced Settings Dialogue Box>radio button in "Show hidden
files and folders" and take the ck. out of "Hide Protected Operating System
Files". The second one is not likely to have anything helpful that will
allow you to ID websites they have visited.
You can get to the top file path, that has essentially what you will want to
see if they haven't deleted the TIFs most but not all TIFs by simply going
to the toolbar on an IE window and going to Tools>Options>Settings>View
Files.
Location of Cookies:
Another place they may not think of deleting are Cookies in Vista. You can
access the cookies by going to:
C:\Users\[Your User Profile Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
Cookies will reveal the websites that they went to if they have not deleted
them.They can be deleted by going to Tools>Options>Delete>Cookies.
You or your kids can delete TIFs by going to Tools>Options>Delete>and when
you hit delete Microsoft has misnamed the name at the top of the dialogue
box by calling it "Delete History" (because you can specifically Delete
History)--I like to keep mine because I find it useful to go back to sites I
forgot I liked or just plain forgot months later.
There are a number of parental control type softwares, and there is parental
control in Vista.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...res/safer.mspx http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...lcontrols.mspx
You can also access info in Help & Support on the start menu. The problem
though here is that most of these controls depend on your knowing which
websites you want to keep them from reaching. While you may have some in
mind, teen agers, like many adults are able to surf and search and find an
endless number of sites that you don't want them spending time with or
viewing.
They know how to erase the Tifs and History, and you can get a clue to where
they are by viewing cookies, but they are probably alert enough to erase the
cookies as well. But they might not be.
Location of History:
History can be checked by putting up any IE windows and hitting the Ctrl + H
and you should see whatever history is there for the number of days that it
has been set.
Setting for Days History is Kept up to 999:
History days kept are set by going to Tools>Options>Settings. They could
delete it every time they visit a site they don't want seen. If they
forget, you can see the sites they visit by going to an IE browser
page>ctrl+H.
To Delete History:
Tools>Options>Settings>Delete History
If someone wanted to delete the entire history folder, they could delete
Index.dat and info on that is here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jeffdav/search...=index.dat&p=1
This is also helpful info--and I seriously doubt your kids will be able to
delete history in the way the link below does.
http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31509
Good luck,
CH
"jenny1980" <jenny1980@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4AF8F436-76C1-40A4-B1A4-D54E77D82102@microsoft.com...
> Hi, I recently installed Vista and I am using IE7. I have teenagers in
> my
> house who like to go onto sites that I don't allow and they are very aware
> of
> how easy it is to delete from the history menu. I used to just go and
> check
> in my temporary internet files but now I can't do that for some reason.
> The
> file is there and it stores some things but it is not keeping track of at
> least 90% of the info on sites visited. It is not even keeping track of
> cookies. I know where the cookies are kept elsewhere but I really need to
> see the actual web cache. Could my son have posibly done something to
> hide
> it from me? (he is very sneaky) Is it something to do with Vista? Please
> help, it has been this way for a few months now.
>
> I also need to add that it is the same exact way on my laptop.