The need to clear your browser's cache

The idea behind clearing your browser's cache is simple, cache equates to space and every computer needs as much space as physically possible in order to operate at its optimum performance. Speed is the key to the kind of computer human relationship that prevents irritation. Clearing your browser's cache is straightforward and should be carried out regularly.

How straightforward is clearing your browser's cache? This example uses Explorer 6 to describe how to clear a cache but anticipate that the majority of browsers will follow the same processes.

-- Open Explorer 6 and go directly to the TOOLS menu, click Internet Options.
-- After the Internet Options screen opens go to the GENERAL tab.
-- In the GENERAL tab, the second category down is called 'Temporary Internet Files', click Delete Files. Doing so removes all the files currently stored in the cache.
-- Click OK, and then click OK again.

Remembering to clear your browser's cache regularly can be delegated to your browser. It is possible in Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) to arrange for the cache to be cleared automatically whenever you close IE6. Below is a summary of the process that you need to follow in order for IE6 to automatically clear the cache:

-- Open Explorer 6 and go directly to the TOOLS menu, click Internet Options.
-- After the Internet Options screen opens go to the ADVANCED tab.
-- In the GENERAL tab, the second category down is called 'Temporary Internet Files', click 'Settings'.
-- Scroll down to the 'Security' label and click to check the box next to the 'Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed'. This will automatically clear your cache each time you close your browser.

Increasing the size of your Browser's Cache. Regular Internet surfers will likely want to increase the size of their cache i.e. the Temporary Internet Files Folder. IE6 has a facility that can read already viewed files from the cache first instead of downloading the same web page from the Internet which saves surfers time. Increasing the size of a cache is possible provided that your computer has ample space available. To increase the size of IE6's cache follow the procedures below:

-- Open Explorer 6 and go directly to the TOOLS menu, click Internet Options.
-- After the Internet Options screen opens go to the GENERAL tab.
-- In the GENERAL tab, the second category down is called 'Temporary Internet Files', click 'Settings'.
-- In the Settings window where a slider is offered below 'Amount of disk space to use:', simply slide the bar to the position you want in order to increase the disk space used by your Temporary Internet Files folder.

Using this mechanism to ensure that pages load quickly is a useful technique to improve your surfing experience however although web pages stored on your disk will load more quickly they may not necessarily be up to date. IE6 also allows users to customize how often the browser checks the Internet for updated content.

In order to set IE6 up to regularly identify updates do the following:

-- Open Explorer 6 and go directly to the TOOLS menu, click Internet Options.
-- After the Internet Options screen opens go to the GENERAL tab.
-- In the GENERAL tab, the second category down is called 'Temporary Internet Files', click 'Settings'.
-- In the Settings window some methods to check for updates of web pages stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder are offered: every visit to the web page; IE6 can check automatically for new content without visiting the page.

User should experiment in order to find what best suits their needs.

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