dsrs

well thanks for that. so pulling my hair out trying to make it visible is not going to work? funny, though. because i certainly could and did see Content.IE5 when i was running windows 2000. i suspect this condition of not seeing Content.IE5 only applies when the main identity is the same as 'Administrator' [even if given another name], that is to say when there is only one user registered for the computer? good to know it is not something broken. thanks

i have searched google and this forum but cannot find any help. my problem is simple. on three different computers all running xp sp2 with all latest updates, i cannot see the content.ie5 folders which should be under TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES under DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\username\LOCAL SETTINGS I have tried all the suggestions i found elsewhere, which include simply moving the location of TIFs using INTERNET OPTIONS, changing registry settings to show hidden and superhidden files, and deleting the TIF folder entirely while logged in as an administrator with a different user name. i can see the four CONTENT.IE5 folders in windows explorer if i type in the full path, or if i open a command prompt window and type the full path in. i can also see these files from the two other computers on my home network. i can see CONTENT.IE5 files for default user, all users, local service etc....that is for all users except my main user name. and i am the only user for these three computers. one point which i wonder about. i am the administrator for each of these three computers, each of which has a unique user name, as in 'smith', 'jones' and 'johnson'. also i am using kaspersky antivirus 6 on all computers, for what that is worth. it appears lots of people have this problem, but no one seems to have found a solution. to add insult to inury, an august windows update KB921398 now tells you 'this page has an unspecified potential security flaw' when you try to go to CONTENT.IE5 by typing the path in the address bar. this is new. i note that my laptop on which i just this week installed a fresh version of xp s2 with all updates had this missing CONTENT.IE5 problem from day one. on the other two computers, i believe they did not have this problem until i started messing around with deleting all the TIFs, to clean them out that way. i found one, temporary, fix. if you delete all the desktop.ini files under TIF and CONTENT.IE5, then copy the index.dat file from under CONTENT.IE5 up to TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES itself, this builds the missing four alphanumeric 7 letter/number files. of course, you have to do all this while logged in either from another computer, or logged in as a different administrator, because otherwise you are not allowed to copy the index.dat file, and more to the point you cannot even see it or any of the CONTENT.IE5 files. alas, when you reboot things go back to where all the cookies and temp files are jumbled under the one single folder TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES some people have said, 'just use firefox'. and it is true i can see CONTENT.IE5 from my other computers, to weed out the junk which i cannot see under the single TIF folder. i also note that unless my eyes are deceiving me, it sometimes appears as if windows explorer shows me very briefly the TIF folder with a plus sign in front of it, before the screen flickers and i lose that view before i can expand it to see if CONTENT.IE5 is really there. i am suspicious that this is happening only to the main identity, which is also the administrator [though not named 'Administrator']. but i am utterly at a loss to figure it out. help much appreciated....