Help on Catalog and thumbnail caching - privacy

[mrwul]

Up front: I use XnViewMP more or less as it is: as a viewer.
So, I am not an expert.

I am looking for 'Help' on Tools > Settings > Catalog and Tools > Settings > Catalog > Enable Thumbnail Caching.
Where can I find it?
For what is it used?
What is being stored?

Background of these questions: I had both above items enabled. That was a long time ago. I never looked at it until now and noticed man (I mean -many!) paths to files that I had opened. Files or paths that did not exist anymore and even entries to files within password protected encrypted partitions, all '0' bytes.

Within a password protected partition, I have a folder XnViewDB with :
Thumb.db (about 2 GB)
XnView.db (about 2MB)
This 'partition' is always unlocked, first thing after boot.

In view of privacy, these paths/filenames (recent file list) where are they stored?
(In XnView.db?)

see screenshot

SnagIt-22082023 072528.png

Thanks!

[xnview]

Catalog is used for thumbnail caching, and to store rating/tag/categories

[mrwul]

What is listed under "Directory" (Settings > Catalog), where is that stored? Do I need that info?

[xnview]

Directory?

[user0]

What is listed under "Directory" (Settings > Catalog), where is that stored? Do I need that info?

2 files:

Thumb.db contains the cached thumbnails.
XnView.db contains categories, files' info, and ratings.

location depends on your settings:
- app folder OR
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\XnViewMP

you only need it if you use app Catalog functionality for Tags and Rating, Labels, Categories (stored not inside file as metadata).
eg I use app as viewer only, so I disable it

[philalethia]

The OP appears to be talking about the part I marked, which hasn't been addressed.
I'd also like to know where it is ...and why it exists, at all. It doesn't appear to really be related to, or necessary for, the Catalog. At least not the XnView.db part. If it's purely related to thumbnails, it should be disabled, if/when you disable thumbnails ...which I have.

[xnview]

these are folders that you have browsed

[philalethia]

these are folders that you have browsed

...and the reason for listing them, is...?

[mrwul]

As the title of this thread says, from privacy point of view:
- why are they listed?
- how to avoid it?

and

should I enable thumbnail caching, or not?
if not, what is the effect with regards to the speed of XnViewMP? (Does it matter?)

Thanks.

[xnview]

As the title of this thread says, from privacy point of view:
- why are they listed?
- how to avoid it?

You have browsed these folders, you can add them in 'Included/excluded' settings

should I enable thumbnail caching, or not?

yes, you improve the speed of browsing

[philalethia]

You have browsed these folders

Yes, but as we're both asking: Why are the folders you've browsed, listed?
...and how can the listing be avoided?

you can add them in 'Included/excluded' settings

That does nothing.
Excluded folders will still be included in the list, as soon as you browse them.

[philalethia]

should I enable thumbnail caching, or not?
if not, what is the effect with regards to the speed of XnViewMP? (Does it matter?)

Personally, I always disable thumbnail caching, in every program and OS, so it wont take up space (and, on SSD/flash memory, to avoid frequent instances of writing to it), but the purpose of thumbnail caches, is to speed things up, so that the computer doesn't have to create thumbnails from scratch every time.
Hence, browsing is a bit slower, for me. Barely noticeable, with a small number of files, but it does take a bit of time to properly load, when browsing folders/categories with larger amounts of files.
So it is a matter of priorities.

[xnview]

you can add them in 'Included/excluded' settings

That does nothing.
Excluded folders will still be included in the list, as soon as you browse them.

I've tried and it works. Do you use a 'base path'?

[user0]

maybe introducing auto/manual Cataloging switch will balance privacy/speed as currently there is only auto-Cataloging (that is on by default).

[philalethia]

you can add them in 'Included/excluded' settings

That does nothing.
Excluded folders will still be included in the list, as soon as you browse them.

I've tried and it works. Do you use a 'base path'?

Yes. How/why would that matter?

...and, again:
Why does the list exist?
Why is a list of browsed directories, stored?
What possible purpose, does it serve?