• 0Shopping Cart
Digital Detective
  • Home
  • Corporate
    • About Us
      • Executive Team
      • Our Clients
      • Testimonials
    • News and Events
      • Latest News
      • Press Release
    • Legal
      • Privacy Policy
      • Cookie Policy
      • Returns Policy
  • Products
    • Forensic Software
      • NetAnalysis®
      • HstEx®
      • Blade®
    • Downloads
      • Evaluation Request
      • Free Digital Forensic Tools
    • Product Documentation
      • NetAnalysis® Documentation
      • HstEx® Documentation
      • Blade® Documentation
  • Careers
  • Support
    • Knowledge Base
    • Support Portal
    • Digital Forensics Forum
  • Store
    • Forensic Software
    • View Shopping Cart
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Userdata History Type in Internet Explorer

Digital Forensics, Forensic Analysis, Web Browser Forensics
Hands typing on computer keyboard

Introduction to Userdata

Internet Explorer 8+ user data persistence is a function which allows online forms to save a small file to the system with information about values entered in a particular form.  This allows the user to retrieve a half filled web based form when they revisit.

Persistence creates new opportunities for website authors.  Information that persists beyond a single page without support from the server, or within the finite scope of cookies, can increase the speed of navigation and content authoring.

The folder structure where the data is actually stored is very much like the standard Internet Explorer cache folder structure. Inside the cache folder you will find the files containing data attributed to the associated website.

{user}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\UserData\

To demonstrate how this works, we have created a page which allows you to save a string to the local drive.

  • Digital Detective Training – UserData Example Page

Once you have saved some string data using the above page, open the UserData INDEX.DAT file in NetAnalysis and review the entries.  Selecting F8 will bring up the search/filter dialogue.  Change the field name to ‘Type’ and enter ‘userdata’ in the filter text box.  When this is executed, you should find an entry as shown below:

If you navigate to the corresponding folder, you will find an XML file which contains the string you entered into the website.  This is shown below.

18th January 2011/1 Comment/by Craig Wilson
Tags: Browser Evidence, Internet Explorer
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Share on Vk
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
You might also like
Random binary data with magnifying glass showing the text REDIRECT in red Understanding Redirects
Microsoft Internet Explorer Daily/Weekly INDEX.DAT Files
Clock dial showing hands approching 12 o' clock NetAnalysis® Date and Time Fields
Computer keyboard with red enter key being pressed NetAnalysis® v1.52 – USB Dongle, Google Chrome Support and Export/Rebuild Entire Cache Option
Internet Explorer logo over a computer keyboard Understanding Microsoft Internet Explorer Cache
Keyboard with chain and palock Microsoft Internet Explorer PrivacIE Entries
Cookies next to a laptop keyboard Random Cookie Filenames
Casey Anthony and Jose Angel Baez standing during the murder trial Digital Evidence Discrepancies – Casey Anthony Trial
1 reply
  1. Paul Bobby
    Paul Bobby says:
    18th January 2011 at 14:33

    Great artifact – thank you for your continued research.

Comments are closed.

Categories

Recent Posts

  • DataDump™ – Data Extractor
  • NetAnalysis® v3.3 and HstEx® v5.3 Released
  • NetAnalysis® v3.2 and HstEx® v5.2 Released
  • Forensic Analysis of the Zone.Identifier Stream
  • NetAnalysis® v3.1 Released

Tags

ACPO AOL Big Endian Browser Evidence Byte Order Cache Case Study Change Log Cookies Data Extraction Data Recovery Data Recovery Profiles Date & Time Digital Evidence Discount Dongles Email Recovery Endianness File System Find Panel Free Good Practice Guidelines Hard Disk Head Swap Image Mounting Intelli-Carve Internet Explorer Junction Points Legal Licensing Little Endian Microsoft Windows Mozilla Firefox News NTFS Offer PFC Release Notes Seagate Search Syntax Timestamps Tools Tutorial

About Us

Digital Detective enhances digital forensic science though cutting edge research and development. We offer a range of products and services for digital forensic analysis and advanced data recovery.

Recent Tweets

Exciting news! Our popular #DataDump tool just got even better with the release of v2.1. Download now for free and experience the difference! #freetool #dataextraction digital-detective.ne…

About 3 weeks ago from Digital Detective's Twitter via Twitter Web App

Nothing seems to have changed in the last 13 years. lbc.co.uk/news/polic…

About 2 months ago from Digital Detective's Twitter via Twitter Web App

This has been a lot of work; hope you like it. NetAnalysis® v3.3 and HstEx® v5.3 have been released. Lots of new functionality! digital-detective.ne…

About 3 months ago from Digital Detective's Twitter via Twitter Web App

Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II 1926 - 2022 pic.twitter.com/sWSC…

About 5 months ago from Digital Detective's Twitter via Twitter for iPad

Recovery and analysis of MFT resident Zone.Identifier alternate data streams and how they are helpful in a forensic investigation. #DFIR #DigitalForensics #BrowserForensics #FileSystemAnalysis digital-detective.ne…

About a year ago from Digital Detective's Twitter via Twitter Web App

Follow @DigitalDetectiv

Select Language

Translate our site by selecting your language from the option below.

en English
ar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)nl Dutchen Englishfr Frenchde Germanit Italianpt Portugueseru Russianes Spanish

Contact Us

Digital Detective Group
Motis Business Centre
Cheriton High Street
Folkestone
KENT, CT19 4QJ
United Kingdom

///courts.endearing.bulbs
+44 (0) 20 3384 3587

Copyright © 2001 - 2023 Digital Detective Group Limited
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Mail
  • Home
  • Sitemap
  • Corporate
  • Products
  • Store
  • Blog
  • Contact
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

OKLearn more

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
Accept settingsHide notification only