How to clear your browser cache

When you visit a website your browser will save some of the files needed to build that page in your temporary files or cache. These files are typically images, javascript and CSS files. It does this to speed up page loading times by reducing the amount of information it needs to download from the server.

If you visit multiple pages on a website or the same page multiple times, your browser will see that it doesn't need to download all files if you have the same files stored in your cache. This can sometimes cause issues if an update has been made to part of a page or site and the filenames have not changed, therefor the browser thinks that it has the file and just uses the cached one instead of a newer modified file.

In most browsers you can request that all files are re-downloaded by holding down the CRTL key and the F5 key at the same time, this is called a force refresh. Unfortunately this does not always work (Google Chrome can be a bit funny about force refreshing), so if you are still having issues below are details of how to clear your cache 'properly'.

Google Chrome

1. Click on the top right menu button.
2. Click on "Settings".
3. Go to the bottom of the page and click on "+ Show advanced settings".
4. Click on "Clear browsing data...".
5. Change the time span in the drop down menu to "the beginning of time".
6. Make sure only the "Empty the cache" checkbox is checked.
7. Click on "Clear browsing data".

Firefox

1. Click on the "Edit" toolbar menu.
2. Go to "Preferences".
3. Click on the "Advanced" tab.
4. Click on the "Network" sub-tab.
5. Click on the "Clear Now" button under the "Cached Web Content" heading.

Internet Explorer

1. Click on the cog icon in the top right corner.
2. Go to "Internet Options".
3. Click on the "Delete..." button in the "Browsing History" section.
4. Check the "Temporary Internet Files" box.
5. Click "Delete".

Safari

1. Click on the "Safari" button in the toolbar.
2. Go to "Reset...".
3. Check the "Remove all website data" checkbox.
4. Click "Reset".