• I want to retrieve hidden Maxthon history

    conceptualclarity

    By conceptualclarity

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    Not too many days ago I had installed Zemana AntiLogger Premium to my system, and it was causing freezes that forced me to resort to power button shutdowns. I uninstalled the Zemana program, but twice I got messages from Maxthon telling me my History database was destroyed and offering to rebuild it. Both times I clicked "Yes".

    The rebuilding didn't seem to work. My History from between April 19 and September 3 was missing on about:history. I looked at my History folder for Maxthon, and it appeared to me that the file History-20160903-040544-23065e69-cb78-4e64-b89b-2aef8ef34606.dat should have my missing history. I make that assessment on the basis of the time of its appearing and on the basis of its size (in comparison to History.dat.vl). Please see the screenshot "Maxthon history.png" showing relevant portions of the folder C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\Maxthon3\Users\[my username]\History.

    I tried to recover my missing history by renaming a copy of History-20160903-040544-23065e69-cb78-4e64-b89b-2aef8ef34606.dat to History.dat.vl in another folder and then drag/dropping it into the History folder to replace the existing History.dat.vl. This operation was allowed to go through. However when I subsequently opened about:history, it didn't show any difference.

    I know some people like to get rid of their browsing history, but I greatly prefer to keep it. I often find myself making a search of about:history to find something I visited in the past. So I would really like to get it back. I still believe that missing history data is on History-20160903-040544-23065e69-cb78-4e64-b89b-2aef8ef34606.dat. Can somebody help me to retrieve it?

     

    Computer:      DELL Dimension 2400
    CPU:           Intel Pentium 4-2667 (Northwood, D1)
                   2666 MHz (20.00x133.3) @ 2658 MHz (20.00x132.9)
    Motherboard:   DELL 0G1548
    Chipset:       Intel 845GEV (Brookdale-GEV) + ICH4
    Memory:        2048 MBytes @ 166 MHz, 2.5-3-3-7
                   - 1024 MB PC3200 DDR-SDRAM - Kingston K
                   - 1024 MB PC3200 DDR-SDRAM - Kingston K
    Graphics:      Intel 82845G/GL/GV Graphics Controller [DELL]
                   Intel i845G(L) Integrated, 64 MB
    Drive:         WL120GPA872, 117.2 GB, E-IDE (ATA-7)
    Drive:         HGST HTS545050A7E380, 488.4 GB, Serial ATA 3Gb/s <-> USB
    Drive:         SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-252S, CD-R Writer
    Sound:         Creative Technology SB Live! Series Audio Processor
    Network:       RealTek Semiconductor RTL8139 PCI Fast Ethernet NIC [A/B/C]
    Network:       Broadcom 4401 10/100 Integrated Controller
    OS:            Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Build 2600
    Antivirus:           ESET Smart Security 9.0.381.0
    Firewall:            ESET Smart Security 9.0.381.0
    Default Browser:     Maxthon 4.4.7.3000

     

    Maxthon history.png

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    conceptualclarity

    Thank you, BugMiss006.

    I don't see anything helpful at that thread.

    Ody mentioned 7Twentyand Joemax. Could we bring this to their attention?

    Somewhere, deep within the Maxthon organization, I suppose, is someone who knows all about files like History-20160903-040544-23065e69-cb78-4e64-b89b-2aef8ef34606.dat and knows what to do with them. There has to be some such person, because how did these files in the Maxthon history come about in the first place? Just like one knows if one sees a turtle on a fence post, the turtle didn't put himself there. There was human intelligence behind it. Please get in touch with the people within Maxthon who really know all about the contents of the History folder. It will be good not just for my sake but for future reference to obtain mastery of these things.

    I still believe my crashed history data is on History-20160903-040544-23065e69-cb78-4e64-b89b-2aef8ef34606.dat. Look at it--what else could it be?

    Best Regards,

    conceptualclarity

     

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    BugMiss006

    Sorry for not helping...

    Tomorrow I'll try bringing it to our product team to see whether there could be some solution. As I remember, last week we have a staff who met computer frozen and lost all his Infobox information even after he restart the computer, but luckliy our someone helped him get back that after one hour. :)

    But his is of MX5...Anyway, I'll ask tomorrow.

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    BugMiss006
    1 hour ago, conceptualclarity said:

    Thank you. As I said, somebody in Maxthon knows about these files.

    I bring a sad news to you:(...Have asked our technical engineer and was told there was no backup files for history, so the destroyed history could not be back, especially when in your case, this destroy is caused by third party software's crashing.

    So the only suggestion is that you can save your favourite pages as bookmarks first, and then you will never face such problem.

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    7twenty
    On 9/9/2016 at 11:27 PM, conceptualclarity said:

    I still believe my crashed history data is on History-20160903-040544-23065e69-cb78-4e64-b89b-2aef8ef34606.dat. Look at it--what else could it be?

    Correct. But that is a backup of the corrupted data. Valid files are named History.dat for the current file, and History_Part_[number].dat for previous files.

    Also I believe history data files are encrypted, so there's even less chance of getting data out of it without MX being able to access it.

    Given that the files only contain about 1-1.5 months of history data, I can only recommend you forget about this and move on. 

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    conceptualclarity

    Thank you for your responses, BugMiss006 and 7twenty.

    On 9/15/2016 at 1:31 AM, 7twenty said:

    Also I believe history data files are encrypted

    Which files do you refer to here?

    On 9/15/2016 at 1:31 AM, 7twenty said:

    so there's even less chance of getting data out of it without MX being able to access it.

    What do you mean by MX accessing it?

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    7twenty
    2 hours ago, conceptualclarity said:

    Which files do you refer to here?

     History.dat / History_Part_[number].dat

    2 hours ago, conceptualclarity said:

    What do you mean by MX accessing it?

    Maxthon reading the files, as no other program can without the encryption key.

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    conceptualclarity

    Thank you for your response. I've had this problem with several freezes leading to power button shutdowns lately. Usually I would have also have Firefox open. I get messages about destruction of data from Maxthon, but I'm not aware the power button shutdowns have done any harm to my Firefox data. To me it suggests a vulnerability in Maxthon that needs attention.

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    BugMiss006
    1 hour ago, conceptualclarity said:

    Do you want me to send my crash data? If so, please tell me precisely what to do.

    Crash data is located in following path

    C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp\MaxthonCrashDat

    Sometimes it may be hidden by default, you can change the folder settings to make it visible.
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    conceptualclarity

    In C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temp\MaxthonCrashData I actually have 3.83 MB worth of data. I imagine I'll need multiple zips. So where do you want me to send it and how?

     

    Edited by conceptualclarity
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    BugMiss006
    22 hours ago, conceptualclarity said:

    In C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temp\MaxthonCrashData I actually have 3.83 MB worth of data. I imagine I'll need multiple zips. So where do you want me to send it and how?

     

    try private message to me?

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    7twenty
    Quote

    The forum is once again badly malfunctioning for me. As soon as I clicked in the box it shifted into a "Drag files here to attach, or choose files" box. 

    This has been happening to me for months on the Maxthon forum. I have even had to open bug threads by attaching a text file rather than typing in a post because I was not given a box to type into, as has happened here.

    With all due respect, much of what you have described seems to be user error or unfamiliarity with how things work.

    The text field may not always open instantly. It's either something related to your connection (eg, if it's slow/latency issues) or more than likely an issue with Maxthon and the way it deals with the script that loads it. Just happened to me, for about 1 second, then showed the box. If it doesn't show at all, then you're using a custom user agent (almost certainly the Opera or IE6-11 options). In which case using the default user agent will fix it.

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    Meanwhile, I went to your profile to try to get a zip file with the crash data to you there. I could not simply drag and drop it into the "Message" text box

    Because it doesn't work like that. You need to drag/drop into the box that clearly says "Drag files here to attach" with the image of a paperclip.

    Quote

    I clicked on "Insert existing attachment." When I do that, what happens is it offers me the choice of a very small set of files, almost all from the My Pictures folder, which are irrelevant to right now. Most of the files offered up seem to be files I posted or attempted to post on Maxthon Forum previously

    Because again, as it clearly states "existing attachment" - meaning one you've attached previously.

    Quote

    It does not open Windows Explorer for me to allow me to navigate where I wish and find that zip file.

    Click the "choose files..." link. A windows dialog should show from which you can find your file on your system.

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