How to Clear the Cache and Cookies in Your Web Browser
Clearing the cache and cookies from your web browser is the important first-step for almost any online problem you are experiencing.
Browser cache is a technology used by most popular web browsers to save visited website’s data on a user’s computer. This allows the browser to quickly display a webpage on your next visit.
Try this first
Forcing Browsers to Hard Refresh / Reload a Page
Try this first, it’s faster and easier and just might work (It’s what I do first).
Basically, when you click on the refresh button in your browser, it will load static content from your browsers cache, but by using a keyboard shortcut, you can force the browser to download a fresh version of the web page.
Simply press the following keys to force a hard refresh in your web browser.
Clearing Browser Cache
Normally forcing a hard refresh will solve your problem. However if it dose not, then you need to clear your browser cache to make sure that you are seeing the live version of a web page.
Google Chrome is the most popular browser in the world right now. Here is how to clean the browser cache in Google Chrome.
Simply launch the Google Chrome web browser on your computer and then click on the three-dot menu in the top right corner. From the menu, you need to go to Settings » Clear Browsing Data.
This will launch the Chrome Settings page with ‘Clear Browsing Data’ popup displayed on the screen. You need to switch to the Basic settings and then select ‘All time’ next to time-range option.
Below that, you need to check the box next to the ‘Cached images and files’ option.
You can also select ‘Clear cookies and other site data’ option. It will delete all cookies stored in your browser storage. Doing so will also log you out from all websites and end other sessions, so make sure you rememebr all your passwords!
Next, click on the ‘Clear data’ button and Google Chrome will clear the browser cache.
If you are using Mozilla Firefox, then this is how you can clear your browser cache.
First, you need to launch the Firefox web browser on your computer. After that, you need to click on the hamburger menu on the top-right corner of the screen and select the ‘Settings’ option.
This will bring up the Firefox settings page. From here, you need to switch to the ‘Privacy and Security’ tab, and then click on the ‘Clear Data’ button.
Firefox will now ask what data do you want to clear. You need to select ‘Cached Web Content’ and click on the clear button.
Firefox will now delete cached web content from your browser storage.
Edge is the default browser on Windows 10 computers. Here is how you will clear browser cache in Microsoft Edge.
First, you need to open the Edge browser on your computer. After that, you need to click on the three-dot menu at the top-right corner of the screen and select ‘Settings’ option.
Next, you need to click on the ‘Choose what to clear’ button under the ‘Clear browsing data’ section.
This will bring up the ‘Clear browsing data’ panel. From here, you need to select ‘Cached data and files’ and ‘Cookies and website data’ options. You can also select the time from from Last hour to All Time.
Click on the ‘Clear now’ button and Microsoft Edge will now clear browser cache.
Safari is the default browser on the Mac operating system. Here is how to clear browser cache in Safari.
First, you need to open the Safari web browser on your computer. After that. click on the History » Clear History… option from the top menu.
Safari will now ask you to select a time range. Select ‘All history’ from the ‘Clear’ dropdown menu and then click on the ‘Clear History’ button.
Safari will now delete all temporary data including cache, cookies, and all temporary website data.
If you want to empty the Safari cache without deleting cookies and other data, then you will need to enable the ‘Developer’ menu.
Simply click on the Safari » Settings from the top menu.
This will bring up the settings dialog box where you need to switch to the ‘Advanced’ tab.
This will add the ‘Develop’ menu in your web browser’s top bar. Next, you need to click on the Develop menu and select ‘Empty Caches’ option.
Safari will now only empty the browser cache without deleting cookies and other temporary data.
If you are using Opera web browser, then here is how to clear your browser cache in Opera.
First, open the Opera web browser on your computer. After that, click on the menu icon on the top right corner of the screen and then click on the ‘Clear browsing data’ button.
This will bring up a popup on the screen. From here, first you need to select either ‘Last hour’ or ‘All time’ next to the time range dropdown menu. After that, check the box next to the ‘Cached images and files’ option.
You can now click on the ‘Clear data’ button, and Opera will empty your browser cache.
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