Clearing browser cache

Clearing your web brower's cache is a good habit to get into, especially if you use the Internet regularly. Your browser stores images and other information from the web sites you visit in a temporary file or memory cache of its own. This can sometimes help the load-time of a site to be a bit faster, since your browser doesn't have to actually go out and download the same files over and over again. However, if you find you are having trouble viewing a site or aren't seeing updates that you know have been made, this could be because your browser is just showing a cached version of the site, instead of the most up-to-date version. To force your browser to go out and reload the site and all its files, you should clear your browser's cache. This does not affect your computer or hard drive in any way. It just clears out your browser's memory/history of all the web sites you've visited since the last time you cleared your cache. It will not erase your bookmarks.

Please note that there are some differences between Internet Explorer 5.x, 6.x and Netscape 4.x, 6.x

Internet Explorer 7.x

  1. Open your browser
  2. Select the menu item Tools > Internet Options
  3. Under the General tab, Browsing History click the Delete... button
  4. On the Delete Browsing History window under Temporary Internet Files click the Delete Files... button
  5. When given the message "Are you sure you want to delete all temporary Internet Explorer files?", click the Yes button
  6. Close and restart your browser
 Clearing the cache in Internet Explorer 7.x

Internet Explorer 5.x and 6.x

  1. Open your browser
  2. Select the menu item Tools > Internet Options
  3. Under the General tab, go to Temporary Internet Files and click on Delete Files
  4. When given the message "Delete all items in temporary internet files folder?", select YES
    (You do not need to delete your off-line content)
  5. Before you exit from Internet Options, you may choose to change your Temporary Internet Files settings so that your browser will always have to look for the most recent version of a page. To do this, click on the Settings button and change your settings to a setting that is comfortable for you.
  6. Close and restart your browser
 Clearing cache in Internet Explorer 5.x

Clearing cache in Netscape 4.xNetscape 4.x and 6.x

  1. Open your browser
  2. In the menubar, select Edit > Preferences
  3. Under Category; click on the + sign next to Advanced
  4. Click on Cache
  5. The Cache options will appear in the right side of the Preferences box. Click on the button/s for Memory and/or Disk Cache (whether you have one or two buttons will vary, depending on your Internet connection)
  6. When given the message "This will remove all files in your cache. Continue?", select OK
  7. Click on OK again to close the Preferences box
  8. Close and restart your browser