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Clearing the Cache, Clearing Cookies, Clearing the History, Rebooting

These are computer maintenance chores that every computer owner should be doing. If the following doesn't give explicit instructions for your system, dig into your help files- that's what they're there for. I'm using Windows XP and IE 7.

Also check out the links to other sites near the bottom of this page, these sites go far more extensively into computer maintenance and security than I ever could.

Clearing the Cache

Clearing your computer's cache regularly is an important part of keeping your web browsing running smoothly.

Every time you visit a webpage, everything on that page is downloaded to your computer for you to view it. These things pile up in a temporary folder, also known as the cache. The cache is allowed a specific amount of disk space on your computer. When the cache is filled, you may have trouble viewing updated web pages. You may try to view the latest version of the page, but you just keep getting the old version because there's no more space in the cache to save the new version.

The advantage of the cache is it speeds loading time because the files are already on your computer, the disadvantage is you're looking at old files. How often you clear the cache depends on how much web surfing you do. Once per week is probably a good plan.

*PLEASE NOTE that pressing Ctrl F5 does not clear your cache, it only refreshes the page. Refreshing the page forces the browser to fetch the current page from the server, so you don't view cached pages. BUT, if your cache is filled, forcing page refresh may not work. You may need to make room for more pages by clearing the cache.

To clear the cache in IE 7, Go to Tools > Internet Options, and a popup will appear. Under Browsing History > Delete > Temporary Internet Files.

History

I've had one occasion when I couldn't view the current version of a webpage even though my cache was cleared, and clearing the History is what fixed it. If you're having unexplained problems viewing the current version of a page, it can't hurt to clear the history to see if it helps.

To clear the History in IE 7, Go to Tools > Internet Options, and a popup will appear. Under Browsing History > Delete > History.

Cookies

Cookies are little files kept on your computer by certain websites. Every time there is a site where you have to sign in, a cookie is written to your computer to remember your username and password. It's how the site recognizes you are you. Other sites use cookies to put spyware, adware, and other obnoxious critters on your computer. Clearing your cookies will result in you having to sign into sites the first time you revisit them, but it will clear all kinds of malware and sign-in problems from your computer. Don't clear your cookies as often as you clear the cache. You could clear them only when you are having adware or sign-in problems, or you could clear them routinely maybe every month or two. You won't hurt anything by clearing your cookies more often, but having to dig out all your usernames and passwords can be a pain.

To clear the cookies in IE 7, Go to Tools > Internet Options, and a popup will appear. Under Browsing History > Delete > Cookies.

To set IE 7 so that you have to approve all cookies before they're saved on your computer, go to Tools > Internet Options, and a popup will appear. Click the Privacy tab > Advanced. Check Override Automatic Cookie Handling. Make your selections.

I have mine set on Prompt for first and third party cookies- that means if the website I'm visiting wants to set a cookie, I'll have to accept or refuse it. If it's a site you have to sign into to access, you must accept the cookies. You'll have the option to accept or block them for just this one visit, or for always. To use Blogger Blogs, you have to accept cookies from Blogger.com, Google.com, and Blogspot.com.

If you accidentally block a site you wanted to accept cookies from, go to Tools > Internet Options, and a popup will appear. Click the Privacy tab > sites. Enter the address of the website and choose Allow, Block, or Remove. Click OK.

Since I've changed these settings, I have nearly eliminated the adware and malware and tracking programs, etc., that programs like Ad-Aware find.

A tip for making cookie deletion less painful, is that you can find and download freeware password managers that save all your usernames and passwords for you. You'll just have to be sure to remember the username and password to open that one program. I use Keyfolder. Keyfolder can also generate secure passwords for you.

Rebooting

This is helpful when your computer is just acting wonky for no apparent reason: reboot, which simply means turn your computer off and turn it on again. This helps because a specific amount of disk space is dedicated to the computer just running everything it's running, that space is called Random Access Memory, or RAM. When the RAM is filled, nothing works correctly anymore. Rebooting clears the RAM. It's worth a try, it often helps.

Disk Cleanup

If you are using Windows, a good thing to do is run Disk Cleanup. This will clear the browser cache and will also remove other unnecessary files from your computer. It will take a few minutes to scan your disk for unnecessary files, then you will have the option of deleting any or all of them.

To run Disk Cleanup, Go to the Start button > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup.

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IE7, click on Tools > Internet Options > General > Browsing History > Delete > you are presented with the option of clearing any or all of five different types of temporary files. Pick the ones you want to get rid of. Temporary Internet Files is the cache. Also listed here are Cookies, History, Form Data, Passwords.

Netscape
Netscape's instructions for clearing Cache.
Netscape's instructions for clearing Cookies.
Netscape's instructions for clearing History.

Firefox, click on Tools > Options > Privacy. This popup has History and Cookies management. No options to just clear them. I believe keeping all options unchecked will prevent any History from being saved. In the cookies section, click on Show Cookies then on Remove All Cookies to clear cookies. There are other options available as well.

Firefox's help section says "When you quit Firefox, it performs cache maintenance." I don't know if "cache maintenance" means they clear the cache. To view their help about the cache click Help then put "cache" in the search box and search. Select "Cache Options."

Opera
Opera's information about Cache and History.
Opera's information about Cookies.

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