Batch Previewing IE Favorite URL files

This short article covers how to batch preview the contents of URL files which you may encounter during a forensic examination.  This article may serve as an aid to forensic examiners or data recovery technicians.

The .url file format is a text file, the layout is similar to INI files.

Screenshot below shows .url favorites in Internet Explorer:

It may be important to check the contents of each .url file you encounter since the name of the file displayed to the user from within the browser may not reflect the actual content.

URL Previewer allows you to check that the contents of .url files are consistent and the filename, contents, url information etc is accurate.

Using URL Previewer is simple:

1. Start program >Click Select Folder
2. You can select the options to recurse folders, highlight sections in bold or automatically convert date / time stamps to a readable format
3. A html report is created automatically allowing you to review the content after processing

URL Previewer will prompt you to save a report of the contents as a single file that can be edited and/or used for previewing or reporting purposes.

The above example shows a sample report showing two .url files after processing, sections have been highlighted in bold.  Any dates and times with .url files will be automatically converted in the report.