Deleting Cache or Temporary Internet Files

[New Brand Media]

Author: Harley Olmillo, New Brand Media

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting our clients, we are trying to capture more support documentation and make available on our networks and blogs to help with some of these re-occuring challenges we face in the web development process.

Starting with the simple but re-occuring challenge - browser caching.

What is a 'Browser Cache' or 'Temporary Internet Files' (as Microsoft likes to call it)

Temporary Internet Files is a directory on Microsoft Windows operating systems. The directory is used by Internet Explorer and other web browsers to 'cache' or save web pages and other multimedia content, such as video and audio files, from websites visited by the user. This function allows websites and content to load more quickly the next time they are visited.

Sometimes when a web site is in development a client may visit a page that is 'in progress' and the 'caching' behaviour of the web browser as described above may well keep copies of this unfinished content on the users PC. A client might rightly observe a bug and raise this for correction. On receipt, a developer may well deal with this quickly and resolve but sometimes, when a client revisits the said page they can often still witness the earlier issue because their browser cache is retaining this copy of the old file. 'Emptying your cache' or 'deleting temporary files' is the answer and we advise clients to carry out this procedure before logging any bugs or ratifying that an issue has indeed, been resolved. It is also good practice to periodically clear cache to help browsers to operate more smoothly anyway.

The following steps are to be carried out once web browser is open:

Deleting cache in Internet Explorer (4.0 – 6.0)

1. Click Tools then select Internet Options.
2. Go to the General tab.
3. Select Delete Files under Temporary Internet Files.
4. Click Ok on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click Apply then Ok to close window.

Deleting cache in Internet Explorer 7.0 & 8.0

1. Click Tools then select Internet Options.
2. Go to General tab.
3. Choose Delete under Browsing History.
4. Click Yes on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click Close and then Ok.

Deleting cache in Firefox & Netscape

1. Go to Tools and select Options.
2. Select Privacy and click Click Now.
3. In Clear Private Data window, check Cache.
4. Click Clear Private Data Now.
5. Select Ok to empty cache.

Deleting Safari cache in PC

1. Select Edit and click on Empty Cache.
2. Click Empty to confirm action.

Deleting Safari cache in Mac

1. Click Safari in the upper toolbar and select Empty Cache.
2. Click Empty on the Are you sure dialog box.
3. Exit and re-launch Safari.