Editing Internet Explorer (section)

===Cache===
{{Main|Temporary Internet Files|Index.dat}}

Internet Explorer caches visited content in the [[Temporary Internet Files]] folder to allow quicker access (or offline access) to previously visited pages. The content is indexed in a database file, known as [[Index.dat]]. Multiple Index.dat files exist which index different content—visited content, [[web feed]]s, visited [[URL]]s, cookies, etc.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.msdn.com/wndp/archive/2006/08/04/WinInet_Index_dat.aspx|title=A bit about WinInet's Index.dat|author=Windows Core Networking Team|date=August 4, 2006|website=[[Microsoft Developer Network]]|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112205144/http://blogs.msdn.com/wndp/archive/2006/08/04/WinInet_Index_dat.aspx|archive-date=January 12, 2008|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref>

Prior to IE7, clearing the cache used to clear the index but the files themselves were not reliably removed, posing a potential security and privacy risk. In IE7 and later, when the cache is cleared, the cache files are more reliably removed, and the index.dat file is overwritten with null bytes.

Caching has been improved in IE9.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ie/2011/03/17/internet-explorer-9-network-performance-improvements/|title=Internet Explorer 9 Network Performance Improvements|date=March 17, 2011|website=[[Microsoft Developer Network]]|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref>