Browser Help

Clearing your browser's cache

see also: Encrypted Pages and Cookies

What is Cache?

A cache is a place to store or hide something. When your browser displays a web page, it stores a copy of the page in its cache on your machine. The next time you visit the page, the browser scans the files in its cache and if it finds the page, it will display the copy stored on your machine instead of going to the web to retrieve a fresh copy. This reduces the time you wait for the page to load because loading the copy on your machine is quicker than retrieving a new copy from the web site.

The browser does need to contact the web site every now and then to find out if the page on your machine has become out-dated. How often the browser checks the web site to see if the page has been updated is something you configure within the browser.

Using the keystroke combination Control-R within Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator forces the browser to retrieve a fresh copy of the page from the web site whether or not the page has been updated. Note that even though this keystroke combination is documented for both browsers, we have sometimes found it difficult to coerce either browser into retrieving an updated copy if there is a copy in its cache. Browsers seem to be a bit stubborn in this respect.

How to Clear the Browser's Cache

In Internet Explorer 6.0

Select Tools/Internet Options from the menu bar. Select the General Tab and click the Settings button in the "Temporary Internet Files" section. The window that displays should have the options selected below. We recommend not increasing the amount of disk space for Temporary Internet files. Internet Explorer is somewhat stubborn about its cache. It won't let you enter a zero amount. 1 MB is the minimum. This will ensure that the browser gets a fresh copy of pages as often as it can.

If you select "Tools", then "Internet Options", then the "General" tab, there are buttons in the middle of the window where you can delete all cookies and files (pages) that are cached on your hard drive.

In Netscape 4 and 7

Select Edit/Preferences from the menu bar. In the window that displays, click on "Advanced" in the lower left column to expand that section. Then click on "Cache". The settings that appear on the right should be the same as below.

WebCT users using Netscape should have "Every Time" selected in order for WebCT to function properly.