Your web browser stores a temporary copy of every site you visit on your computer. These temporary Internet files are known as cache. Files that are cached locally include any documents that make up a website: html files, CSS style sheets, JavaScript scripts, as well as graphic images and other multimedia content.
When you revisit a site because the images and media are already downloaded to your computer the browser can display the files stored in its cache much faster than it can pull fresh files from a server, which ensures the page loads faster.
Why do you need to clear the cache?
Sometimes issues arise where a website only loads partially, or looks like it’s badly constructed. Cached data by design leaves a trail of sites you have previously visited, so could be a privacy concern. If you have an excessive amount of files saved in your cache it can actually slow things down.
How do I clear the cache?
By clearing the cache, you effectively instruct your browser to; ‘Forget what you have already downloaded and download it all again.’ This ensures you get the most recent update of what is on the server.
Look for an option to delete cache or temporary Internet files in your browser’s settings. The keyboard shortcut Control+Shift+Delete will open the dialog box to clear cache in all major browsers.
Usually Ctrl+F5 will work for most browsers. This reloads the page and bypasses the cache. It guarantees that if the content has changed you will get the new content.
