IT FAQs



How to clear your browser's cache?


Running out of disk space? Can't stop your browser from loading an out-of-date page or an image? Your browser taking longer to exit? Your favorite Java applet is misbehaving?

One of the answers to all of the above questions may be to clear your browser's cache. Almost all web browsers maintain a local copy of web pages and other related items on your disk or memory to speedup reloading of previously visited pages from the Internet. This time saver may get bigger and slower over long periods of time. If this is causing problems, try clearing your browser cache as follows.

TIP: Although it's not required by all browsers, restarting your browser after clearing the cache is a good idea. If you're using Explorer 4.x or Explorer 5.x it's better to restart the computer as well.

Clearing cache in Netscape Navigator 3.x:

  1. Select "Options | Network Preferences..." from the main menu
  2. Change to the "Cache" tab
  3. Click on "Clear Memory Cache Now" and "Clear Disk Cache Now" buttons

Clearing cache in Netscape Navigator 6.x and 7.x:

  1. Select "Edit | Preferences..." from the main menu
  2. Expand the "Advanced" menu by clicking the triangle sign and
  3. Click "Cache"
  4. Click both the "Clear Memory Cache" and the "Clear Disk Cache" buttons.

Clearing cache in Netscape Communicator 4.x:

  1. Select "Edit | Preferences..." from the main menu
  2. Change to the "Advanced | Cache" section
  3. Click on "Clear Memory Cache" and "Clear Disk Cache" buttons
TIP: Navigator 3.x and Communicator 4.x users: If you're often having to reload frequently updated pages, you may want to take this chance to set "Verify Documents" option to "Every Time." This will make the browser retreive the latest copy of a web page even if it's in the cache.

Clearing cache in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.x:

  1. Select "View | Options..." from the main menu
  2. Change to the "Advanced" tab
  3. Click on "Settings" button
  4. Click on "Empty Folder..."
TIP: If you're running out of hard disk space, you could reduce percent of disk space used by Explorer 3.x for its cache by sliding the "Amount of disk space to use" guage.

Clearing cache in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x:

  1. Select "View | Internet Options..." from the main menu
  2. Change to the "General" tab
  3. Click on "Delete Files" button
TIP: If you have Explorer 4.x Active Channel subscriptions, check "Delete all subscription content" to delete cached channel content as well.

Clearing cache in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x:

  1. Select "Tools | Internet Options..." from the main menu
  2. Change to the "General" tab
  3. Click on "Delete Files" button
TIP: If you have stored web pages for offline viewing, check "Delete all offline content"

Clearing cache in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x:

  1. Select "Tools | Internet Options..." from the main menu
  2. Change to the "General" tab
  3. Click on "Delete Files" button
TIP: If you have stored web pages for offline viewing, check "Delete all offline content"

Clearing cache in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.x:

  1. Once your browser is open, click the Tools menu. Or, optionally you may simply press Ctrl-Shift-Delete to open the Delete Browsing History window (and skip step 2)
  2. Delete Browsing History... Click on Delete Browsing History
  3. Select "Temporary Internet Files
  4. Click the Delete button near the bottom of the window to delete your temporary files (i.e. clear your cache).
  5. If you want the browser to automatically clear the cache whenever you close it, click the Advanced tab.
  6. Click to check the box next to the "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed" option (in the section labeled "Security").
  7. Click OK. This will delete everything except cookies.

Clearing cache in Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.x:

  1. Close all browsers.
  2. Open Internet Explorer.
  3. Click Tools on the menu bar and select Internet Options.
  4. Click Delete under Browsing History.
  5. Uncheck every box except for Temporary Internet Files in the Delete Browsing History window.
  6. Click Delete.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Close and reopen the browser.

Clearing cache in Mozilla firefox 1.x:

  1. Select "Tools" from the main menu
  2. Click on "Options..."
  3. Change to the "Privacy" tab
  4. Select "Cache" and click "Clear"

Clearing cache in Mozilla firefox 3.0:

  1. Open Firefox.
  2. Click Tools on the menu bar and select Options.
  3. Click Privacy.
  4. Click Clear Now (NOTE: Make sure, only Cache is checked).
  5. Click Clear Private Data Now.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Close and reopen the browser.

Clearing cache in Mozilla firefox 3.5:

  1. Open Firefox.
  2. Click Tools on the menu bar and select Clear Recent History
  3. Select Everything from the Time range to clear drop down list
  4. Click the down arrow next to Details
  5. Click to check the box Cache (NOTE: Make sure, only Cache is checked)
  6. Click Clear Now
  7. Click OK
  8. Close and reopen the browser

Clearing cache in Google Chrome:

  1. Once your browser is open, select the tools menu. (the spanner in the upper-right corner) and select Options.
  2. Select Clear Browsing data under the "Under the Hood" tab
  3. Select the Empty the cache check-box.
  4. If you do not wish to delete cookies, etc., remove checks from them in the list.
  5. Select the period of time for which you wish to delete cached information using the Clear data from this period: drop-down menu. (If in doubt select Everything).
  6. Click the Clear Browsing Data button.

Clearing cache for Opera:

  1. Once your browser is open, select the tools menu and click delete private data.
  2. Click the details button.
  3. If you do not wish to delete cookies, saved passwords, etc., remove checks from them in the list.
  4. Press delete.

Clearing cache in Opera 3.x:

  1. Select "Preferences" from the main menu
  2. Click on "Cache..."
  3. Click on "Empty Now" button to clear the selected cache
TIP: If want to save your hard disk from filling up with cached files you will never use, check "Empty on Exit" this will flush your cache at the end of every session.

Clearing cache in Safari for Mac OS:

  1. Once your browser is open, click the Safari menu and select Empty Cache...
  2. Click Empty

Clearing cache in Safari for Windows OS:

  1. Once your browser is open, click the Edit menu and select Empty Cache...
  2. Click Empty.

Clearing cache in America Online 3.x (with Explorer 3.x):

  1. Select "Members | Preferences" from the main menu
  2. Click on the "WWW" button
  3. Click on "Advanced..."
  4. Click on "Purge Cache" to clear the cache
TIP: Be sure to check "Cache web pages and graphics locally" (which should be enabled by default) to speedup surfing.

Clearing cache in America Online 4.x:

  1. Select "My AOL | Preferences" from the main menu
  2. Click on the "WWW" button
  3. Change to the "General" tab
  4. Click on "Delete Files" button
TIP: If you have Explorer 4.x Active Channel subscriptions, check "Delete all subscription content" to delete cached channel content as well. If you have stored web pages for offline viewing, check "Delete all offline content"

For more information, feel free to contact us

Clearing cache in America Online 9.0:

  1. Select "Settings" A box appears called "Settings: Essentials".
  2. Click on Internet [Web] Options
  3. Click on the 'General' tab
  4. Under 'Temporary Internet Files', click on the "Settings" button
  5. Select "Every visit to the page" on 'Settings' page
  6. Click OK
  7. Return to the 'General' tab, click on "Delete Files" to clear the cache
If you require more information, please click here to notify one of our team members.

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