How to Clear your Internet Browser's Cache

What is an internet browser's cache?

Normally your internet browser (Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, etc.) downloads web pages and some to all of its content to your computer usually in the folder Temporary Internet Files. This is the browser's cache. When you visit a webpage with files already downloaded in the cache, it will use them to load the page instead of re-downloading the page again. This allows the page to load faster and save some data from downloading.

Sometimes the cache can interfere with the normal use of the webpage and it needs to be cleared to be able to use it as intended.

How to clear your browser's cache

Depending on your internet browser, clearing your cache requires different steps.

Android

1. Select Menu, then More.
2. Select Settings.
3. Under "Privacy settings", select Clear cache, Clear history, or Clear all cookie data as appropriate, and then OK to accept.

Chrome

1. Click the 3 dots (Mac) or exclamation point (PC) in the upper right corner of the browser.
2. Hover over the More Tools option then click Clear Browsing Data...
3. Choose The Beginning Of Time or lesser time frame in the "Clear the Following Items From" field.
4. Select the items you want to clear (e.g., Browsing history, Download history, Cached images and files, Cookies and other site data).
5. Click Clear Browsing Data. 

Edge

1. Click the 3 dots in the upper right corner of the browser.
2. Choose Settings.
3. Under Clear Browsing Data click Choose What To Clear.
4. Select the items you wish to clear (e.g., Browsing History, Cookies and Saves Website Date, Cached Data and Files, Downloaded History and Form Data).
5. Click Clear.

Firefox

1. Click the hamburger menu in the upper right corner of the browser.
2. Click Preferences (Mac) or Options (PC).
3. Click Privacy in the left menu bar.
4. Click Clear Your Recent History.
5. From the Time range to clear: drop-down menu, select the desired range; to clear your entire cache, select Everything.
6. Click the down arrow next to "Details" to choose which elements of the history to clear.
7. Select Browsing & Download History, Form & Search History, Cookies, Cache and Active Logins
8. Click Clear Now.

Internet Explorer

1. Click Tools, and select Delete Browsing History... .
2. Deselect Preserve Favorites website data, and select Temporary Internet files, Cookies, and History.
3. Click Delete.

Safari for Mac

1. Click the Safari menu, then Clear History...
2. In the Clear field choose All History
3. Click Clear History.

Safari for PC

1. Click on the Settings (Gear) icon in the upper right corner of the browser..
2. Click Reset Safari
3. Select the items you wish to clear. (It is recommended to check all items).
4. Click Reset.

Mobile Safari for iOS (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad)

To clear cache and cookies:

1. From the home screen, Select Settings > Safari.
2. At the bottom of Safari's settings screen, Select Clear cookies and data or Clear Cookies and Clear Cache.
3. Confirm when prompted.

To clear history:

1. From the home screen, tap Safari.
2. At the bottom of the screen, tap the Bookmarks icon.
3. In the lower left, tap Clear.
4. Tap Clear History.