What is browser cache?

All web browsers stores various types of information like images, style sheets and other bandwidth heavy data so that when you revisit that particular website that it the browser does not have to download as much data as when you first visited that website.

This has the advantage that it speeds up loading times and allows you to browse your favourite websites much faster. This feature is called the browser's cache.

Clearing the cache for different browsers

Clearing your browser cache depends on which browser you are using as it's software independent.

Below is a list of the newest, most popular browsers and their instructions on clearing their cache.

1. Microsoft Internet Explorer
2. Mozilla Firefox
3. Google Chrome
4. Opera
5. Apple's Safari

Internet Explorer versions 7, 8 and 9

Internet Explorer 7

1. Open IE 7 and click on the Tools menu.
2. Click the Delete Browsing History link at the top.
3. Under the Temporary Internet Files heading, click Delete files.
4. Click Yes to confirm when you see the prompt asking if you are sure you want to delete all temporary files.

Internet Explorer 8

1. Open IE 8 and click on the Tools menu.
2. Click on Delete Browsing History
3. Select Temporary Internet Files.
4. Click the Delete button near the bottom of the window to delete your temporary files.

Note: IE 8 has a feature which retains some cookies even after you clear your cache. To insure you truly clear your cache, you will want to clear the check box "Preserve Favourites Website Data".

Internet Explorer 9

1. Open IE 9 and click the gear at the top right to open the settings menu.
2. Select Safety and Delete Browsing History option.
3. Select Temporary Internet Files.
4. Click the Delete button near the bottom of the window to perform the operations

Note: IE 9 has a feature which retains some cookies even after you clear your cache. To insure you truly clear your cache, you will want to clear the check box "Preserve Favourites Website Data".

Firefox version 4 and above

1. Click the Firefox menu in the top left corner.
2. Select the right arrow next to History and click Clear Recent History.

Chrome version 10 and above

1. Open Chrome and select the Wrench icon(the settings menu, located in the upper-right corner).
2. Select the Empty the cache check-box. Uncheck everything else to avoid deleting data unintentionally.
3. Click the Clear Browsing Data button.

Opera

1. Open Opera and select the settings menu.
2. Click delete private data.
3. If you do not wish to delete cookies or saved passwords remove the check marks from these items on the list.
4. Press delete.

Safari

Safari for Mac OS X

1. Open Safari and click the Safari menu then select Empty Cache.
2. Click Empty.

Safari for Windows

1. Open Safari and click the Edit menu then select Empty Cache.
2. Click Empty.

Side note

If you still find this process very tedious you could also do a soft refresh of the web page by holding the Ctrl button and pressing the F5 key on your keyboard.