Everyone who has owned a computer has experienced an internet slowdown, random computer glitches, or updates not refreshing correctly. The first thing technical support will tell you to do is clear your cache. But why should I clear my cache? What does my cache even do? I am going to answer those questions and show you how to do it yourself.

What Is Your Cache?

Every time you visit a new website your browser stores images, fonts, code, and forms you may fill out, all inside of your cache. Once it is saved in your cache it doesn’t have to reload the next time you visit that website. That way the next time you visit that site it loads faster and is more efficient. The purpose is to improve your overall experience with that website.

What Are the Benefits of Clearing My Cache?

Anyone who spends a lot of time online visiting different websites will build up a good size cache. In time, this can cause the performance of your computer to slow down and glitch a bit. The problem is that website pages are filled with hundreds and even thousands of files just for one site. Although future visits to that site will improve the loading time, it can eventually use a lot of disc space on your computer. Thus, slowing down your browsing time overall.

Clearing your cache not only frees up disc space but can also increase the speed of your computer.

If you are using a public computer, the cache can store your private information, on a form for instance, for anyone to see and use. To maintain security it is always a good idea to clear your cache on a public computer.

When working on a website on the back end, often the changes you make to a page won’t be seen when you refresh the website. This is because the browser is only loading the old version because of what it finds in the cache. Sometimes the data stored in the cache prohibits up-to-date loading of content. Deleting the data stored in the cache will allow the new version to be seen.

How Often Should I Clear My Cache?

If you work with different websites and do most of your work online I would recommend clearing your cache regularly. Especially, if you are building websites. You want to be able to see a refreshed and current version daily.

However, if you aren’t working with websites and don’t frequently shop online once a month is probably fine.

If you are somewhere in between, I recommend clearing your cache once a week.

How to Clear Your Cache in Different Browsers

Chrome

• Go to the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of the screen
• Click on More Tools
• Go to Clear Browsing Data
• Check Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files
• Click the Clear data button at the bottom right-hand corner of the box

Firefox

• Select options by clicking on the menu on the Firefox page.
• Click on the Privacy and Security tab
• In the Cookies and Site data tab, tap on the Clear Data
• Remove check marks on all the other options and click on Cached Web Content.

Microsoft Edge

• Go to the Hamburger menu
• Click on Settings
• Tap on Settings Privacy, search and service
• Click on Clear Browsing Data
• Choose what to clear

Safari

• Go to History
• Clear History
• Choose a timeframe if you want to both clear your cache and cookies
• Click on History
• Choose Show All History if you want to select specific sites to delete data from

Conclusion

Working in Web Design, I clear my cache almost once a day. But my job requires it as updates are always being made. It’s a good idea to clear your cache once a week to keep your device clean and running at optimal speed.