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How and Why to Clear Your Cache |
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| Often referred to as the cache,
the Temporary Internet Files folder 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. |
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| Storing these files in your
cache can make browsing the Web faster because it usually takes your
computer less time to display a Web page when it can call up some of the
page's elements or even the entire page from your local Temporary
Internet Files folder. |
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| Clearing your
browser's cache |
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| All those files stored in your
cache take up space, so from time to time, you may want to clear out the
files stored in your cache to free up some space on your computer. This
is called clearing the cache. |
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| To clear your cache: |
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| 1. On the Internet
Explorer Tools menu, click Internet Options. The Internet
Options box should open to the General tab. |
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| 2. On the General
tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click the Delete
Files button. This will delete all the files that are currently
stored in your cache. |
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| The Delete Files
button |
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| 3. Click OK, and
then click OK again. |
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Tip: You can adjust your Internet
Explorer settings to automatically clear the cache whenever you close
Internet Explorer. Go to the Tools menu, and click Internet Options.
Click the Advanced tab. In the "Settings" box, scroll down to the
section labeled "Security," and click to check the box next to the
"Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed" option.
Click OK to finish. This option does not delete cookies, but it will
clear your cache of other files when you close your browser. |
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| More speed or
more room? |
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| If you tend to go online a lot
and have ample space on your computer, you might want to increase the
size of your Temporary Internet Files folder. Why? Because Internet
Explorer will read already-viewed files from the cache first rather than
take the time to download the same page from the Web, thus saving you
time and money. |
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| To change the size of your
cache: |
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| 1. On the Tools
menu, click Internet Options. The Internet Options box should
open to the General tab. |
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| 2. On the General
tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click the
Settings button. This will open the Settings box. |
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| The Settings button |
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| 3. In the Settings
box, under Amount of disk space to use, you can slide the bar to
the right to increase the amount of disk space used by your Temporary
Internet Files folder. |
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| Adjusting the amount of disk
space used by the Temporary Internet Files folder |
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| 4. Click OK, and
then click OK again. |
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| Adjusting how
often to update |
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| While it's true that the more
files you can load from your hard disk, the faster your browsing speed,
it's also true that those pages on the Web might have changed since
being stored on your computer. You might not want to miss fresh content
just to save a little time. Fortunately, in addition to the size of the
cache, you can also customize how often Internet Explorer checks the Web
for updated content. |
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| First you will need to go to the
Internet Explorer Settings box: |
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| 1. On the Tools
menu, click Internet Options. The Internet Options box should
open to the General tab. |
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| 2. On the General
tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click the
Settings button. This will open the Settings box. |
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| 3. In the Settings
box, there are four ways to check for newer versions of pages that are
stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder: |
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Every visit to the page: You're
assured of the most current content, but it's slower to browse
previously viewed pages. |
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Every time you start Internet Explorer:
On your first visit to a page, Internet Explorer will check for new
information, but not on subsequent visits in the same browsing session. |
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Automatically: Internet Explorer will
check automatically for any new content. |
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Never: This option is fastest, but
you could be viewing old content from the cache. To refresh the page,
press the F5 button on your keyboard—this will connect you to the
page on the Web and download new information to the Temporary Internet
files folder. |
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| Try several combinations of
these options and cache size to find the best fit for your needs. You
may need to use the settings for a few days to fully gauge how they are
working. |
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What's a Cookie? |
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| No, not that kind. These
are virtual cookies—small text files that Web sites can create on your
computer to store information gathered about your visit to the site
including, where you went, what you did, and any personal information
you gave. Web sites may also allow other Web sites (their advertisers,
for example) to put cookies, known as third-party cookies, on
your computer. |
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| Cookies are a necessary part of
using the Web. Web sites use the information in cookies to deliver
personalized content (local news and weather, hot sales, and so on), to
complete transactions (for online banking or shopping, for example), and
to gather demographic data. However, a Web site only has access to
personal information that you provide; otherwise, it only records the
steps you've taken on the site, so you remain anonymous. |
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source:
http://www.microsoft.com |
