Total Privacy - User Guide and FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions - Total Privacy

1. What are Temporary Internet Files?
   Each time you open a Web page, your browser creates a cache file (a temporary copy) of the page's text and graphics. When you open the page again, for example, when you click on the toolbar Back button, your browser checks the Web site server for changes to the page. If the page has changed, your browser retrieves a new version over the network. If the page hasn't changed, your browser uses the cache files from your RAM or hard drive to display the page. For example, Internet Explorer caches Web pages to both memory (RAM) and disk (hard drive) until the respective cache is full; Internet Explorer then rotates out pages based on age.
   
   Internet Explorer designed this system to help load Web pages quicker. However, if you've viewed lots of Web pages, you may have an overloaded hard disk cache, which Internet Explorer will have to check before it loads a new page. Unfortunately, over time, your browser's cache grows. A cache full of outdated information is worse than no cache at all. It causes problems with Java applets, causes you to see out of date text or images, and makes your browser sluggish starting and exiting. The solution is to clear out the cache.
   
   
2. What does Total Privacy do?
   Many people do not realize that the Windows Operating System, Internet browsers as well many other programs store useless and redundant information on your hard drive. Not only does this information affect your computer performance by eating up needed hard drive space, but it can also pose a serious risk to your Privacy. When someone accesses your computer, whether it's a hacker from the outside or someone sitting at your desk, they can use this information to find out what documents you have used, which pictures you have viewed, what web sites you have visited and much more. Total Privacy cleans out all of this loose information, protecting your Privacy and keeping your system at peak performance.
   
   
3. What is the AutoComplete Memory?
   The Internet Explorer AutoComplete feature suggests matches as you type text in any of the following areas:
   • The Address toolbar in Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, or on the Windows desktop or taskbar.
   • The Open box in the Run dialog box accessed from the Start menu, or the Open dialog box accessed from the File menu in Internet Explorer.
   • Forms (including user names and passwords on forms) on Web pages.
   
   If you are using the Windows Desktop Update component that is included with Internet Explorer 4, Windows 98 or later, or Windows 2000, the AutoComplete feature suggests matches as you type in an Address toolbar in Windows Explorer or in the Open box in the Run dialog box accessed from the Start menu.
   
   The list of matches that the AutoComplete feature suggests for a Web address, folder, or program name is determined by examining the following items:
   • Your Favorites and History folders
   • The contents of the folder you specify for files or folders
   • The contents of the left pane in Windows Explorer
   • A list of your most recently typed addresses, commands, or AutoSearch queries, which are stored in the registry
   
   
   
4. What is the Windows Run History?
   Windows stores the programs you ran in the start menu run text box. So that you do not need to type if you want to run it again, but it will also let others have the choice to see what program you have run.
   
   
5. What are Index.dat Files?
   Index.dat are files hidden on your computer that contain all of the Web sites that you have ever visited. Every URL, and every Web page is listed there. Not only that but all of the email that has been sent or received through Outlook or Outlook Express is also being logged. The file names and locations depend on what version of Internet Explorer you have. If you are running IE version 4.0 or above, the file name is "index.dat". Microsoft has not supplied an adequate explanation as to what these files are for or why they have been hidden so well.
   
   According to Microsoft, these files are used to cache visited Web sites to help speed up the loading of Web pages in Internet Explorer. Obviously this cannot be the case because when you clear the Temporary Internet Files the "index.dat" files remain behind and continue to grow. If you delete or clear the Temporary Internet Files, there is absolutely no need to index the URL cache because those files no longer exist.
   
   
6. What is the Location Bar/Typed URLs History?
   Internet Explorer (as well as other browsers) stores the URLs you typed to the system registry, so that you do need to type again next time. But others can see where you have been on the Internet.
   
   
7. What is the Browser Cache?
   Browser saves web pages, images from visited Web sites into your hard drive whether you click on them or not, so that next time when you visit you won't have to re-download the image. But this means that many megabytes of data of all types get saved to you hard drive. Anyone who can use your PC can tell where you have been browsing on the web.