Internet Explorer 6: How and Why to
Clear Your Cache
What is a cache? Find out more about
the cache, also known as the Temporary Internet Files
folder, and how clearing your cache can improve browsing
speed.
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.
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.
Clearing Your Browser's Cache
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.
To clear your cache:
1. On the Internet Explorer Tools menu, click
Internet Options. The Internet Options box should open to the
General tab.
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.
The Delete Files button
3. Click OK, and then click OK again.
 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.
More Speed or More Room?
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.
To change the size of your cache:
1. On the Tools menu, click Internet
Options. The
Internet Options box should open to the General tab.
2. On the General tab, in the Temporary
Internet Files section, click the Settings button. This will open
the Settings box.
The Settings button
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.
Adjusting the amount of disk space used by the Temporary
Internet Files folder
4. Click OK, and then click OK again.
Adjusting How Often to Update
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.
First you will need to go to the Internet Explorer
Settings box:
1. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options. The
Internet Options box should open to the General tab.
2. On the General tab, in the Temporary
Internet Files section, click the Settings button. This will open
the Settings box.
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:
Every visit to the page: You're assured of the most
current content, but it's slower to browse previously
viewed pages.
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.
Automatically: Internet Explorer will check automatically
for any new content.
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.
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.
Internet Explorer 7: How and
Why to Clear Your Cache
What is a cache? Find out more about the
cache, also known as the Temporary Internet Files folder,
and how clearing your cache can improve browsing speed.
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.
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.
Clearing Your Internet Explorer 7 Browser's Cache
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.
To clear your cache:
1. On the Internet Explorer Tools menu, click Internet
Options.
The Internet Options box should open to the General tab.
2. On the General tab, in the Browsing
history section,
click the Delete... button. This will bring up the
Delete Browsing History Box.
Select the Delete files... button to delete Temporary
Internet Files
Select the Delete cookies... button to delete Cookies
Select the Delete history... button to delete your
browsing history
After you select delete a box will appear asking you
to confirm you would like to delete the files. Select
Yes for each one.
Confirm Internet Explorer Cache Delete
Confirm Internet Explorer Cookies Delete
Confirm Internet Explorer History Delete
3. Click Yes, and then click Close
and OK again.
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