In order to speed up web browsing, web browsers are designed to download web pages and store them locally on your computer’s hard drive in an area called “cache”. The cache contains a kind of travel record of the items you have seen, heard, or downloaded from the Web, including images, sounds, Web pages, even cookies. Typically these items are stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder.
When you visit the same page for a second time, the browser speeds up display time by loading the page locally from cache instead of downloading everything again. This sometimes results in less than current versions of web pages being displayed. When the cache fills up, performance can slow down and your hard drive may run out of space.
You should periodically clear the cache to allow your browser to function more efficiently. If you believe that you have a less than current version of a page, please see the following steps listed below to clear the cache in your browser.
To clear your cache in Internet Explorer
- Close all other open browser windows.
- Click the ‘Tools’ menu at the top of your browser, and select ‘Internet Options.’
- Click the ‘General’ tab at the top of the dialogue box.
- Click ‘Delete Files’ under ‘Temporary Internet files.’
- Select ‘Delete all offline content’ by checking the box.
- Click ‘OK.’
To clear your cache in Mozilla Firefox
- Close all other open browser windows.
- Click the ‘Tools’ menu at the top of your browser, and select ‘Options.’
- Click ‘Privacy.’
- Click ‘Clear’ next to ‘Cache.’
- Click ‘OK.’
To clear your cache in Mozilla and Netscape
- Close all other open browser windows.
- Click the ‘Edit’ menu at the top of your browser, and select ‘Preferences.’
- Click the ‘+’ next to ‘Advanced.’
- Select ‘Cache’ under ‘Advanced.’
- Click ‘Clear Cache.’
- Click ‘OK.’
To clear your cache in Safari
- Close all other open browser windows.
- Open the ‘Safari’ menu on your browser’s toolbar.
- Select ‘Empty Cache.’
- Click ‘Empty’ in the dialogue box.
In some cases, it may be necessary to clear your cache more than once.
