UK Edition
How to clear your cache on Chrome, Safari and Firefox
When we can't log in to Facebook or a page won't load, we're often told to clear our cache. But what does that mean - and how do you do it? From Google Chrome to Safari, here's how.
Why should you clear your cache?
Your web browser holds onto information about the websites you visit, helping to speed page-loading times. However over time these old files can cause problems bringing up webpages (because your browser is bringing up old versions of the site for you) and logging in. Regularly clearing your cache, cookies and history helps reset this.
How to clear your cache
Chrome
First, copy and paste chrome://settings/clearBrowserData into your address bar to get to the right page, or press Ctrl-Shift-Delete.
Alternatively, click on the three vertical dots to the right of your address bar, hover over 'History' so that a menu pops up to the right of the list, select 'History' from that second list and click on 'Clear browsing data', which is near the top left hand corner of the webpage.
A box will pop on your screen. From the 'Obliterate the following items from' drop-down menu, pick the period of time you want to clear cached information for. To clear your entire cache, click on 'the beginning of time'.
Then, tick the following boxes, if they're not already ticked:
- Browsing history
- Download history
- Cookies and other site and plug-in data
- Cached images and files
Next, click 'Clear browsing data' and close the tab.
Safari
To access the right menu, you can press Command-Shift-Delete. Alternatively, click on the Safari menu, then either Clear History and Website Data.
Next, select the time range of web pages you want to clear, then click 'Clear History. Finally, go to the Safari menu and click Quit Safari to close the browser. The fresh browser you open up will have a cleared cache.
Firefox
Go to the History menu and click on Clear Recent History. If you can't see the menu bar, it's hidden; press Alt on the keyboard to make it appear.
Go to the 'From the Time range to clear' drop-down menu and click on the range you want to clear. To clear your entire cache, select Everything.
Next, go to Details and click on the down arrow to select which parts of your history you want to clear. To clear everything, select all items.
Finally, click Clear Now and close all your browser windows. The fresh browser you open up will have a cleared cache.
Are there any drawbacks to clearing your cache?
Unfortunately clearing your cache goes hand in hand with logging you out of any sites you're signed in to, meaning you'll have to key in your passwords again when you next visit sites like Facebook, Twitter and Gmail. You might also remove address bar predictions and lose any shopping cart contents.