Clearing Your Cache

Caching can be a great thing – it is a feature in all browsers that stores parts of web pages so the next time you visit the page loads quicker. However the downside is what if the website has changed? Your browser may load the version saved in your browser and not the latest site. This can lead to display issues where some files have been removed or changed and others are the same – your browser might display a combination of cached files and live files and the site display is all over the place!

This can be particularly annoying when you are reviewing work done by your web developer over and over as you want to be absolutely sure you get the latest version.

Luckily no matter what browser you are using, there is a way to clear your cache to be absolutely sure the version of the site you are looking at is the latest.

The following list provides instructions on how to clear your cache in all of the popular browsers.

Note we have recently updated this to include the new Google Chrome browser and Firefox 3.

Google Chrome

1. Go to the Tools menu (the wrench on the upper right of the browser) and click on Clear browsing data. Note if it doesn’t appear there just click on options then you can find it on the ‘Under the Bonnet’ tab.
2. Select at least the first 4 boxes (there is no need to clear your saved passwords) and click Clear Browsing Data
3. Hit Control F5 to refresh the page.

Clearing Cache on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0

1. Click Start and select Settings, then Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.

Clearing Cache on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7.0

1. Click Start and select Settings, then Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options.
3. Click the General tab.
4. Click Delete under the Browsing History section.
5. Click Delete Files in the Delete Browsing History dialog box.
6. Click OK.
7. Click Close.
8. Close and relaunch your browser.

Clearing Cache on Netscape® Navigator 9.X

1. Click Tools and select Options.
2. Click the Privacy.
3. Click Clear Now under the Private Data section.
4. Check the box Cache and Clear Private Data Now.
5. Click OK.
6. Close and re-launch your browser.

Clearing Cache on Firefox 1.0

1. Click Tools and select Options.
2. Click the Privacy Icon.
3. Click Clear next to the Cache section.
4. Click Ok.
5. Exit and relaunch the browser.

Clearing Cache on Firefox 1.5

1. Click Tools and select Options.
2. Click the Privacy icon.
3. Click the Cache tab and click Clear Cache Now.
4. Click Ok.
5. Exit and relaunch the browser.

Clearing Cache on Firefox 2.0 and 3.0

1. Click Tools and select Clear Private Data..
2. Click Ok.
3. Hit Control F5 to refresh the page

AOL 7.0

1. Close your browser.
2. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
3. Double-click Internet Options.
4. Click Delete Files.
5. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
6. Click OK.

AOL 8.0

1. Close your browser.
2. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
3. Double-click Internet Options.
4. Click Delete Files.
5. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
6. Click OK.

AOL 9.0

1. Close your browser.
2. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
3. Double-click Internet Options.
4. Click Delete Files.
5. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
6. Click OK.

Safari 1.x for Macintosh

1. Click the Safari menu and select Empty Cache.
2. Click Empty on the Are you sure message box.
3. Exit and relaunch the browser.

Safari 2.0 for Macintosh

1. Click the Safari menu and select Empty Cache.
2. Click Empty on the Are you sure message box.
3. Exit and relaunch the browser.

Firefox 1.5 for Macintosh

1. Click the Firefox menu and select Preferences.
2. Click the Privacy icon and click the Cache tab.
3. Click Clear Cache Now.
4. Click the X in the top left corner to close the Privacy window.
5. Exit and re-launch the browser.

Firefox 2.0 for Macintosh

1. Click the Firefox menu and select Preferences.
2. Click the Advances icon and click the Network tab.
3. Click Clear Now under the Cache section.
4. Click the X in the top left corner to close the Advanced window.
5. Exit and re-launch the browser.

BlackBerry Handheld

Clearing the content caches clears both the rendered pages and server data:

1. Highlight the Browser icon and click the trackwheel.
2. Click the trackwheel again to display the Browser Options menu.
3. Scroll down to Options and click the trackwheel to open the Browser Options screen.
4. Scroll down to General Properties and click the trackwheel to open the General Properties screen.
5. Click the trackwheel to open the Cache menu.
6. Scroll down to Clear Content Caches and click the trackwheel to clear the cache and return to the General Properties screen.
7. Press the Escape button to page back to the main menu.

Opera

Opera 9.x for Windows

Clear Cache

1. Click Tools.
2. Click Preferences.
3. Select Advanced tab.
4. Click History on the left.
5. In the Disk cache section, click Empty Now.
6. Click OK.

Clear Cookies

1. Click Tools
2. Click Delete Private Data.
3. Click Detailed Options.
4. Select Delete all Cookies.
5. Deselect the checkbox for any of the other Private Data options that you don’t want to delete.
6. Click Delete.

Opera 9.x for Mac OS X

Clear Cache

1. Click Opera.
2. Click Preferences.
3. Click Advanced tab.
4. Click History on the left.
5. In the Disk cache section, click Empty Now.
6. Click OK.

Clear Cookies

Opera 9.x for Mac OS X

1. Click Opera.
2. Click Delete Private Data.
3. Click Detailed Options.
4. Select Delete all Cookies.
5. Deselect the checkbox for any of the other Private Data options that you don’t want to delete.
6. Click Delete.

Written by Dan Norris, Director of Gold Coast Web Design agency Web Circle on 31 October 2007 – last updated on 22 April 2009.