How To Clear A Browser Cache
Ghacks regulars know how to clear the cache of their web browser. I get support emails occasionally from new readers who do not know how to do that, or who, when asked to clear the cache, do not know how to do it.
Telling customers how to clear the cache was a regular thing back when I worked in tech support, and it was not always easy to guide those users through the process.
Before we start with explanations on how to clear a browser cache, we are going to look at the cache briefly. What is it? Why is it there in first place?
The cache is a temporary storage on your computer. It is usually located on a hard drive but can be moved freely around, for instance to removable drives or even to the RAM.
Page elements are stored in the cache whenever you visit a website. This is done to speed up the loading times on your next visit, or if you navigate to another page on the website.
A basic example. Say you view ten pages on Ghacks. Instead of having to download the static Ghacks logo ten times you only download it once from the server. The logo is loaded from cache when you open the other nine pages of the website. This saves bandwidth and connections to the server which speeds up the display of the website in the web browser.
The cache can be the source of problems as well. This is for instance the case if I change the Ghacks logo after it has been stored in your cache. Your browser may display the old logo even though a new one has been uploaded to the site. While it is usually not a problem for logos and such, it could very well be problematic if you get a "site maintenance" information which does not go away, even if your friends are telling you that they can access the site again.
That's why it is important to know how to clear the browser cache. Unfortunately, it is a different procedure with every Internet browser. This guide covers the five popular browsers Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari.
How To Clear A Browser Cache
Internet Explorer 8 and newer (includes Internet Explorer 10 and 11)
- (Press the Alt-key if the menu bar is not shown), and click Tools > Safety > Delete Browsing History
- Or, press Ctrl-Shift-Del
- Or, click Tools > Internet Options > Delete
- Or, open Start Menu, click Control Panel, select Internet Options > Delete
Make sure Temporary Internet Files is selected. A click on Delete clears the browser cache in Internet Explorer. You may clear cookies, the browsing and download history, form data, passwords, and ActiveX Filtering and Tracking Protection data as well.
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge users may clear the Edge browsing cache in the following way:
- Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Shift-Del to display the clear browsing data dialog.
- You can click on Menu > Settings > Choose what to clear instead.
Make sure "cached data and files" is selected, and hit the clear button to remove the cached files. You can clear the browsing history, cookies and saved website data, tabs you set aside or closed recently, download history, form data, passwords, and other data such as media licenses or location permissions using the menu as well.
Mozilla Firefox
- Tap on the Alt-key and select History > Clear recent history
- Or, press Ctrl-Shift-Del
- Or load about:preferences#privacy and select "clear your recent history" under history.
Make sure Cache is selected in the options. It may also be necessary to switch the time range to everything to make sure that everything that is currently stored in the cache gets deleted.
You may also delete the browsing and download history, form and search history, cookies, active logins, offline website data and site preferences.
Opera
- Click Menu > Settings > Privacy & Security > Clear Browsing Data.
- Or, load opera://settings/clearBrowserData
Make sure cached images and files is selected before you activate the clear browsing data button. You can also clear the browsing and download history, cookies and other site data, passwords, and autofill form data.
Google Chrome
- Click Menu > More Tools > Clear Browsing Data
- Or, use the shortcut Ctrl-Shift-Del
- Or, load chrome://settings/clearBrowserData and click on Clear browsing data
Make sure "cached images and files" is selected before you click on the clear browsing data button. You can also clear the browsing history, and cookies and other site data in basic mode, and the download history, passwords, autofill form data, site settings, hosted app data, and media licenses in advanced mode.
Safari
- Click Safari > Empty Cache
Clearing the browser cache manually, Cache Locations
You can also clear the browser cache manually. It is usually not necessary but handy to know anyway.
Internet Explorer
- Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
- Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files
Microsoft Edge
- Windows 10: C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_xxxx\AC\#!001\MicrosoftEdge\Cache\
Mozilla Firefox
- Windows XP: C:\Document and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\code.default\Cache
- Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista: C:\Users\username\AppData\ Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\code.default\Cache
- Linux: /.mozilla/firefox/.default/Cache/
- Mac: ~/Users/username/Library/Caches/Firefox/
Profiles/code.default/Cache
Google Chrome
- Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\
- Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache
- Linux: ~/.cache/google-chrome
- Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Google/Chrome
Opera
- Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Opera\Opera
- Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows Vista, 7: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Opera Software\ProductName\Cache\
- Mac: Check Menu > Help > About Opera.
- Linux: Check Menu > Help > About Opera.
Safari
- Windows XP: c:\Document and Settings\username\Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari
- Windows Vista, 7: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\Safari
- Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Safari/
Third-party software
Third-party software can help you clear the cache regularly. The most popular Windows tool to do so is the free CCLeaner.
It supports all major browsers and support for other programs can be added by installing CCEnhancer or by adding their cache locations manually.
Simply make sure that Internet Cache and Temporary Internet Files are selected in the program to clear the cache.
Linux users can check out BleachBit instead.
clearing cache not worked this message shown again
clearing cache worked! Thanks.
i do clear the browsing data but i am still suspended USER ID (8765254)
i can’t play my games in facebook :’(
please help meeeeeeeeee
i can’t play my games in facebook :'(
i can’t play my games in facebook
kizeye u wanna kick in the eye for real stop spending that money on yourself u pompis prick and get some better servers wtf are u guys doing if theses issues dont get resolved ill promote world of warcraft a lot more than this screwed up company u guys have….
is backyard monsters down???
commander will not load.. satalite not found but battle pirates and all my other games work fine
Since more than 2 weeks I can not load the game backyard monsters. I have tried the recommendations and I have also tried to load it with two more computers (in order to be sure about my system) but the result was the same! The page of the application keeps trying to reload all the time but no success!!!!
Please check and solve the problem!
Thank you
it doesn’t work
Can you please be more precise?
what your problem with me until not connection this game? i want to play this game, do you understand
lost satellite connection, why?
i have a problem with the game, i always reconnecting after load the game. like 30 sec after. n the tips above not help me out. can you explain? y?
same problem with farhan. I have a problem with the game, i always reconnecting after load the game. helm me for connecting the game, please?
i have a problem with the game, i always reconnecting after load the game. like 30 sec after. n the tips above not help me out. can you explain? y?
backyard monsters in not loding but my husband backyard monsters is ok. what is going on.
Hi there,
It’s been more than a week and I get this message every time when I log in on War Commander… Satellite Connection lost… other games like battle pirates work fine, this one just won’t let me in despite seeing the background of my previously saved game status. I followed all of the instructions on this website, even went elsewhere and tried other computers… nothing seems to be working at the moment. Any ideas?
i can play war commander ,,the problem is ,war commander is not loading ,,i have to accounts of war commander ,,and both of this two account have a problem ,for the loading ,pls help me ,,4 day that i cant play ,,
Nochmal auf deutsch. In den Profilen meiner Kiddies läd das spiel nicht. In meinem Hauptprofil und in dem meiner frau gehts. an was liegt das??
backyardmonsters will not running on my Profil. My wifes game is running. whats going on.!!!
I cant load the game. I casn view my base but when I go to view the map it wont load.
I use Mozilla firefox, I am trying to clear my cache, I have done the first method, and I am trying to do the second, the the (Windows 7, Vista: C:\Users\username\AppData\ Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\code.default\Cache) file does not exist, or at least I cannot find it. I can get to users, but there is no username file, and when I click on my name, The “appdata” file is not there.
what do i need to do different??
Enter about:support into the address bar, press enter, and click on the show folder button. this should take you right to your profile folder
i keep getting sos please help me
connot connect
kayy, soo :s whenever i attack someone , all of my monsters from my monster housing goes away, and it takes the monsters away from the hatchery too.
Hi i play the back yard Monster game. But some how on saturday came up came up a information box with out of information and i coul not use any other plug. After that i move my main base and lose all of my 240 out post. Im in the same map just next to were i was. But the point is that i dont know why i mobe away from my all position and i lost all of my out post. Would you please help my out?
My desktop defender haven´t worked in many months now. nothing of this works…
this doesnt work men please some one help me.
this happend to me on battle pirates i was lvl 32 and then the next day i was lvl 1 again how do i go back up to lvl 32 again plz help me with this.
Is that a Flash browser game? If the game saves your progress in a cookie, e.g. normal or Flash, and if that cookie has been deleted, you have almost no chance to get it back. Sorry to say but you may need to start anew.
and what if u havent cleared or deleted it and that is happening??.. thanx
Why is this site called ghacks? This isn’t a hack, a tweak, or even a how-to, really…it’s common knowledge, read-the-manual stuff. Tell me how to access & read it (C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache) and that will be another thing entirely.
This is a guide on how to clear the cache in four major browsers, aimed at users who switch browsers and users who are asked / or want to do it but do not know how to.
what u want
thank’s very..very…much.god bless..boss.
Thanks sir…nice work..
Isn’t the simplest way just to run portable Ccleaner ?
Ilev yes that is an option. I wanted to give people the tools at hand to do it manually in the browser, without third party tools. The delete cookies guide that I have written today mentions CCleaner. It is a great tool, especially useful if you use more than one web browser.
Too Hard for me :P lol
Thanks a lot man, you make it easy for many people. I will share this link if someone faces problem. Great and easy write up as always.
Thanks, I try my best ;)
Hi Martin, after long looking for cleare and east write up, I finaly find your page. The best!
Danke/Thank you!
Lin
With Opera you can also go Menu->Settings->Preferences->Advanced Tab->History->Disk Cache->Empty Now. This won’t clear saved cookies and other useful stored data.
BTW – I noticed in the Opera image “delete persistent storage”. Does this refer to the insidious “Evercookie” you covered last November? Any news on this new privacy threat?
I’m not 100% sure but I think this has nothing to do with Flash, but with Unite and other Opera features.