Vista IE7 file cache?

November 8, 2007 5:27 PM

Vista, IE7 "Temporary Internet Files" -- there's nothing in it!

Under XP I've grown to depend on being able to dig into the IE file cache to retrieve and store files I've downloaded. It's a lot more convenient sometimes than trying to manually save them out of the places they appeared in web pages.

I just bought a new computer, with "Vista Home Premium". Just got it three days ago and I'm going through the painful process of moving onto it and getting used to it. One thing I've noticed is that when I look at the "Temporary Internet Files" directory there's almost nothing in it. Fact is, the most recent stuff in there is from earlier today when I was using Google Earth. IE 7 doesn't seem to put anything in there -- which is pecular, because I'm using IE7's menus to find and open the thing.

If I didn't know any better, I'd think IE7 wasn't caching files at all. Except that when I use the Proxomitron log window to see what happens when I reload a page, I'm seeing a lot of "Content hasn't changed" messages which IE7 is not following up with reloads. Obviously it has put those files somewhere and is reusing them, but they're not where it says they're supposed to be.

I've tried changing the settings so that directory listings show "system" and "hidden" files and that does nothing. My only conclusions are either that in Vista I'm not supposed to be able to see into the cache, or else the files aren't being stored where I'm being told that they're stored. But in either case, why is IE7 lying to me? It says there is a cache and lets me look inside -- where I can't see anything.

Where is the IE7 cache? How do I find it and look at it and retrieve files out of it?

(Note: "Use Firefox" is not an answer. Nor "Use Opera" nor "Get a Mac".)

posted by Steven C. Den Beste to computers & internet (5 comments total)

My user account is "Steven". It tells me that the cache is:

"C:\Users\Steven\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files"
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 5:31 PM on November 8, 2007

One more note: Telling IE7 to clear the cache took several seconds and lots of disk operations, even though the directory listing only showed about 40 files.

However, it did delete those 40 files.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 5:33 PM on November 8, 2007

Click on StartButtonRoundThing->Control Panel->Folder Options

Then click on the View tab. Then check the box next to "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck the box next to "Hide System Files"

Then click OK.
posted by toxic at 6:04 PM on November 8, 2007

Already did that -- and it isn't enough. Turns out you not only have to do that, but also turn on protected system files, and then it seems they hid it in subdirectories which you can only access if you know their names. I found the cache here:

C:\Users\Steven\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Low\Content.IE5

This article explains why it was done.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 6:13 PM on November 8, 2007

Welcome to LoRIE (low rights IE).
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:05 AM on November 9, 2007