SillyDog701

[JEO]

Hi,
I'm trying to retrieve proof that I visited a web page back last Nov and submitted an online application form through it. My browser history does not go back that far but I really need to get this proof and the time it was sent.

Would be grateful for advice.

Thanks

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/4.0; GTB6.4; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; InfoPath.1; OfficeLiveConnector.1.3; OfficeLivePatch.0.0; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30618)

[Don_HH2K]

Virtually all browsers don't store information that far back in time unless you specifically tell them to. IE8's default to keep history data is 20 days.

Your best bet would be to contact whomever you submitted the form to, especially if you had to log in or provide some information with which they can verify you're the same person, and ask to obtain proof that you submitted it.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.2) Gecko/20100324 Namoroka/3.6.2

[JEO]

Thanks for the reply.
Is there not a way of going right into the computer's hard drive or hidden files?

I have contacted the recipient but they are disputing the time it was sent (the timing is absolutely crucial to tenths of seconds)

Thanks again

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/4.0; GTB6.4; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; InfoPath.1; OfficeLiveConnector.1.3; OfficeLivePatch.0.0; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30618)

[Don_HH2K]

Internet Explorer keeps its history data in a file called [tt]index.dat[/tt], which is preallocated and therefore doesn't move around on the disk.

In terms of how hard drives work, this means that the bits are being written in the exact same spot on the disk platters, over and over. The reason that you can often undelete files is that the space freed upon deletion doesn't always get reused immediately, so sometimes there are file fragments laying around on the drive with no links pointing to them. The difference with a preallocated file is that the file never gets deleted, so the data is directly being overwritten each time.

In your particular case (November to March and a default archive span of 20 days), that works out to around six overwrites. By comparison, standards set by organizations such as the British government and the US Army "securely" wipe data using three overwrites.

(Sorry to get technical, but I couldn't figure out how to phrase it otherwise.)

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.2) Gecko/20100324 Namoroka/3.6.2