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Newbie Questions...Need Help (are QT videos saved; deleting history)

L

LostFan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 5, 2006
10
0
Okay, so I'm new to MAC (duh) and have some questions.

First off, clips that I watch on Quicktime - are those saved on my hard drive? I don't see anything in imovie, and when I actually open quicktime all I see is promos for new movies. So I'm not sure if that stuff is saved anywhere. But if it is, how do I delete it?

Second, is there a way to permanently delete my history?

Thanks for the help!!!
 
The trailers shown when you open the QuickTime player are actually on Apple's website, and will stream from there on request.

To reset your history, go to Safari > Reset Safari. This resets all history, caches, etc to the original settings.
 
LostFan said:
so then any clips I view on QT are not saved anywhere?
Click to expand...

Don't think so, if you get quicktime pro you can save them though.
 
LostFan said:
Second, is there a way to permanently delete my history?
Click to expand...
For Safari, follow the previous advice. For QuickTime itself, go to File > Open Recent > Clear Menu.
 
Also, depending on how you accessed the quicktime file, you may need to go to file--open URL, then click on the little arrow thingy next to the address box, and select "clear menu."
 
As a feature to protect web content many browsers have gone to creating metafile caches so people can not easily download content and steal it. Safari and other browsers actually state it’s to increase rendering speed and efficiency, and likely it is, but it also offers content protection. If you pay for QT Pro, you can save most media files that play through QT. Actually, you can save all media files, even when not in kiosk mode, but it requires a wrangling, but I digress.

There are a number of third-party programs that are designed to grab streams or flash or java applets for later use, and you can hunt for those as you wish.

QT is the backbone of most of Apple’s media apps. The 30 bucks is well worth it, and if you’re a Pro App user, you will have to pay for the major QT upgrades if you accidentally install them (Apple warns agains doing major upgrades to QT). I really think the reason that Safari does not cache these is to add protection for media creators.

Sometimes if you context click (rt click/ctrl click) on a media link (if it is a descrete file) you can save it directly to your computer with out haveing to display it on a browser or use a media player.

Using older browsers will also allow you to get around this problem, because they cache individual files in native formats. Look for older versions of IE or run Netscape 4 in classic. This won't work if the media stream requiers a newer codec or media player plug-in than the older browsers support. WM and RM files can also be scvanged this way, but more often than not streams can not be recovered this way. In older browsers the stream buffers were saved, often with long strings of hex. Apending the .RM or what ever allowed one to read the cach in a player- but this was hit or miss at best.
 
LOL, it IS my own machine, however, I don't want anyone getting on it and finding anything...

Not that I'm looking at porn, of course...:)
 
LostFan said:
LOL, it IS my own machine, however, I don't want anyone getting on it and finding anything...

Not that I'm looking at porn, of course...:)
Click to expand...
If you're on Tiger, you can use "porn mode" (known officially as "Private Browsing"). Uncheck Private Browsing when you're done.
 
OS X does all it can to not recycle delete clusters until it has to, if your drive is formated in HFS+. This is so it doesn’t cram new data into a tiny little freed up space on a drive, rather it writes to unused space first. So a super sleuth could scavenge your drive for information, like chaches, quite easily. This isn't really an issue for most people. The act of deleting the caches is probably enough, as most people don't have the skills or tools to reconstitute and read the meta-files contents. You also don't have to use any DOD specs for over writing disks (simply 0's or 1's will do), unless you think your foe is using some sort of advanced SEM coupled with a super-computer or similar tool to rebuild your drives contents after erasing.

You should probably get a program like ONYX or Main Menu to keep your system running in top shape anyway.

Also delete the history, if you don't reset Safari. You can delete the history and caches of all your browsers through Main Menu. Main Menu can be run from a USB flash drive. Less paranoid is good.

If you really want to erase your tracks, I have a 1200 watt belt driven mass media de-gausser, your welcome to come by and use it- though your computer will never work again afterwards, but that's the price for security.
 
CanadaRAM said:
;) Less risky to get your own machine, and stop watching pr0n on someone else's Mac.... :D ;)
Click to expand...

Haha, exactly. I always laugh when I read these threads.

OMG I DOWNLOADED pr0n HELP
 
please, like there's anything wrong with porn. it's not like it's illegal. it's just not sometihng you want everyone finding. agreed?
 
LostFan said:
please, like there's anything wrong with porn. it's not like it's illegal. it's just not sometihng you want everyone finding. agreed?
Click to expand...
I haven't heard anyone saying there's anything wrong with it (although I'm sure some would if they viewed this thread). But it is humorous when threads pop up like this that vaguely ask how to hide internet usage without just saying "Hey, I'm downloading some porn and need to keep my mom/dad/wife/husband/siblings from seeing it. How can I best do that on Tiger with Safari?" ;)
 
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