Attacking against Caro-Kann

White plans to fix Black's pawn on h6 so that if Black castles kingside, White can attack with g4-g5. Also, it means that dark-square Bishop endings will favor White. The downside is that in Rook endgames this pawn tends to become weak and White usually takes a big risk if he chooses to castle kingside after weakening the structure in this way. Black usually takes advantage of White castling 'the wrong way' by playing Bd6.

IMHO this worked out for the OP mostly because he was playing a much weaker opponent, and so pretty much any other line would have worked as well.

Now, I'm speaking from a position that is fairly similar to the OP - my real rating (not my chess.com rating) is only slightly higher than his, and I too hate the main systems of the Caro with passion, especially the classical system with 4. .. Bf5.  I have to agree with JamieKowalski: if you like open play with tactics, against a well matched opponent the Panov is the way to go.  The OP seems to have an irrational fear of IQP positions, he should really get over it - shouldn't be too hard because apparently he has nothing against an IKP (isolated King pawn )

Apropos, another way to reach the IQP positions is the English system 2. c4 which may have the advantage of being less familiar.

You need to get over "hating" playing vs the CKD or anything else, unless you can prevent your opponent from playing the openings you hate, which you can to some extent - sometimes.

The Advance Variation 3.e5 is worth looking into, it seems to be pretty popular and successful nowadays. The Fantasy Variation is aptly named because anyone who thinks it will work vs a "booked" opponent (or someone who can deal with unfamilar openings that are barely sound) is living in a fantasy world. It's OK for blitz though but don't rely on it in CC or OTB Tnmt games. BUT, the only way to know if an opening will work for YOU is to start playing it whenever you can and see what happens!

Oddly enuff I used to think 1.e4 c6 2.c4 was junk but it may also be worth looking into to, if no other reason than to avoid the standard variations. The main lines with 4...Bf5 are tough to crack, for me anyways; realistically I can see that there are just some openings I'm not likely to beat that often - or lose to either; when you hit this "wall" in your opening repetoire it's time to try a new variation  or else just settle for a higher drawing percentage vs. some defenses, it's your call.

Why would it be less familiar? It leads to the exact same position, unless White chooses an inferior variation like 2...d5 3.cxd5 or 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 and doesn't play d4 shortly.

NimzoRoy: many players say the same things as you, but I think that's because there's a fundamental difference in your approach to and appreciation of the game.  For me winning is not the only thing, I am looking for an adventure and aesthetic experience.  I just cannot accept that an opponent can unilaterally deprive me of those by his choice of a boring opening.  The day I'll convince myself that it is in fact possible I'll quit the game for good.

I've heard that the young Tal also hated playing against the Caro

I used to hate playing against the Caro as White (although I play the black side of it!) until a friend of mine showed me an interesting line in the exchange variation, an early h2-h3. I have won a couple of nice games with this setup...some ideas are to prevent Black from developing his light squared bishop comfortably, dominate the e5 square, and prevent Black from using the b8-h2 diagonal. Here are a couple of games I played against the Caro that have boosted my confidence against that defence:

The second game won me my rent money, as I tied for first in my section with 4.0/5! :D

Why don't people just play g6 and Bf5?

I like the open variation: 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 6. exd.

This prevents the natural move 7...d6

I know Tal and Nunn played it for a while, but that's about it.

I don't think anyone suggested it yet, but there also the Accelerated Panov Attack with a quick c4:

I think this requires some accurate play by black and it's not all too common. I also found a blitz game which Short won against Karpov who surely wasn't easy to crack in the CK and another win against Bent Larsen in the same variation at the same tournament, Budapest 1987

Well if Polgar played h2-h3 early, who am I to give it a ?! :P Even if 4...Nf6 is inaccurate, at my level of play I encounter it over 50% of the time; Even after 4...Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.h3!? g6, White plays 7.Bf4, and g2-g4 is coming; and on 6...e5 White is better on 7.dxe5 and 8.Qe2. To be fair to the Black side (I play the Caro too!), ...Qb6 is often a good way to distract White.