How to Find a Yahoo Account's Deleted History in Firefox

Examine the index.dat file for deleted Internet history.

Firefox, like many other Web browsers, uses logs to store a user's history. This information is a dated and timestamped timeline of all websites visited and all artifacts (images, movies and such) downloaded. When a user deletes this log from within Firefox, the data is not actually deleted. The user is simply telling Firefox to begin a process of overwriting the logs with new data. The best way to view this deleted data is to examine the "index.dat" file, which is a database Windows uses for faster browsing.

Things You'll Need

• Index.dat file viewer software

Instructions

1. Click on "Start" then "Search." Once into Window's search function, select your C: drive and search all files and folders for "index.dat". Several of these files will appear.

2. Right click on each index.dat file and select "Copy" and then right-click your desktop or another easily accessible folder and choose "Paste." Repeat this process one at a time for each file.

3. Open your index.dat viewer software program. There are several of these tools online; one example is Pointstone at www.pointstone.com/products/index.dat-Viewer/ -- a quick Google search of "index.dat viewer" will give you several more results to try.

4. Point your index.dat viewer to the files you saved from Step 2. Some index.dat viewers will place the information into organized sections; others will give you a raw view.

5. Examine the index.dat files. These files will contain every website that was visited prior to the Firefox history log being deleted.

Tips & Warnings

• Always examine only copies of the index.dat files. These are important system files and you should never examine or change originals.

Resources

• Pointstone.com: Index.dat Viewer