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Have you ever felt that your browser is working really slow? Do you know the reason behind it can be all the saved cache?
Information such as history, images, logos, forums, passwords, downloads, cookies and a lot of plugins data are all saved in your browser’s cache. This information helps us with the loading time of a web page that we have previously visited.
After a while, the saved data in your cache gets so large that your browser will face some performance issues. Clearing browser cache from time to time can help us with these sorts of issues.
But how do we clear browser cache? In this article, we discuss how to clear your browser cache, for all browsers.
In our previous article, we discussed how to clear iPhone cache.
Why Do You Need to Clear Your Browser Cache?
Your browser saves cache without you noticing. However, this isn’t always the case and users finally realize that. But how? For example, when you are loading a website all the images may not load.
Furthermore, designers may not be able to view their changes. In this case, by clearing browser cache you can fix the issue. However, this isn’t always the case, but usually, it fixes everything.
How to Force Refresh a Single Page?
In some cases, you may have an issue with a web page. You can refresh the page without using the saved cache.
To do so, you need to force refresh the web page. Keep in mind, in this method only the web page that you are looking at gets refreshed and all the other pages use your browser cache.
There is a slight difference between the regular refresh and force refresh. In regular refresh, your browser uses your saved cache to refresh the page, which is not what we are looking for here. To force refresh a web page in different browsers follow the steps below:
- For Windows and Linux browsers: Ctrl + F5
- For Apple Safari browser: Shift+ Reload from the toolbar
- For Chrome and Firefox in Mac: CMD + Shift + R
How to Clear Browser Cache for Google Chrome
To clear browser cache in Google Chrome:
1. From the top right corner click on the triple dots.
2. From the opened menu, click on more tools.
3. Click on clear browsing data, a page pops up. If you look closely you can see Ctrl+Shift+Del hotkey to open clear browsing data.
4. Once the page pops up, you can see all of your histories, which you can delete.
5. To clear browser cache, you just need to click on “cached images and files”. You can select any data that you wish to delete. By clicking on “Clear browsing data” at the bottom of the page, all the data that you have selected will be deleted.
Clearing the Chrome cache is as simple as that. You can delete other data as well. These data can be your history, downloads, cookies, passwords, forums, applications, and licenses. By default, you can delete 4 weeks of data. Next to “obliterate the following items from:” you can change the timeline to any time frame you desire.
How to Clear Browser Cache for Mozilla Firefox
To clear Firefox cache:
1. From top right click on the triple lines.
2. Click on Library.
3. Select history. ( You can use Ctrl+Shift+Del as the hotkey to bring up your history.)
4. From the opened menu click on “Clear recent history”.
5. Once you click on clear recent history a new page pops up. On top, you can set the value of “Time range to clear” to everything.
By doing so, you have actually chosen the time frame. Click on the details. From the opened list, select the cache and finally click on clear now to clear your browser’s cache.
How to Clear Browser Cache for Safari
To clear your Safari cache, from the history menu on top click on clear history. By doing so, other than deleting your cache, all of your data will be deleted.
If you only want to delete your browser cache, first you need to enable develop the menu. To do so:
1. Click on Safari and select preferences.
2. From the opened window go to the advanced tab and make sure “Show develops menu in menu bar” box is ticked. By doing so, you have enabled the develop menu.
3. Now by clicking on the develop menu, you can simply clear your browser cache.
How to Clear Browser Cache for Internet Explorer
To clear browser cache in IE:
1. Use Ctrl+Shift+Del hotkey. Delete browser history window will open up.
2. From the available options click on “Temporary Internet files and website files”.
3. Finally, click on delete to clear your browser cache.
Keep in mind, to access delete browser history you can also, click on tools then head over to safety and click on delete browser history.
How to Clear Browser Cache for Microsoft Edge
To clear browser cache in Microsoft Edge:
1. From the top right corner click on the triple dots.
2. From the opened menu, click on the setting.
3. Click on Privacy & Security.
4. Click on “Choose what to clear”. Clear browsing data list will be displayed to you.
5. Only select “Cached data and files” and click on clear to clear your browser cache.
You can also use the +Shift+Del hotkey to reach this page.
How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera
This browser is famous for its built-in VPN and ad-block. High speed and optimizing battery usage for mobile devices are other features of Opera.
To clear Opera cache:
1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Del hotkey to open up the clear browsing data page.
2. Select your time-frame in “obliterate the follow items from” option and make sure cached images and files are chosen.
3. Finally, by clicking on clear browsing data you can clear your browser’s cache.
How to Clear Browser Cache for Brave Browser
Brave is open-source and based on the Chrome browser. One of the key features of this browser is the ability to block ads.
Unnecessary website codes are also blocked by this browser. These features helped Brave to considerable popularity.
To clear Brave cache:
1. From the top right corner click on triple lines.
2. From the opened menu click on History.
3. From the left-hand side click on “clear browsing data”.
4. Enable cached images and files option.
5. Click on clear.
Keep in mind, the “warning: selected data, back to the day you installed Brave will be cleared and cannot be undone.” is displayed for you and warning that the information you delete, won’t be restored.
By doing the steps above, “Do you want to restart now?” message will appear on your screen. By clicking on yes, you restart your browser without any cache.
How to Clear Browser Cache for Vivaldi Browser
Like previous methods, to clear Vivaldi cache:
1. Use the Ctrl+Shift+Del hotkey. Also, by clicking on tools and clicking on clear private data you can reach the clear browsing data page.
2. From the opened window, select the beginning of time in “obliterate the following items from” to clear all the saved data.
3. To clear browser cache, make sure cached images and files box are selected.
4. Finally, click on clear browsing data at the bottom of the page to clear your browser cache.
Conclusion
Clearing browser cache can solve your errors while searching for a website. Although, the main goal of saving cache is to improve the performance and speed of your browser. However, sometimes it has a negative effect.
This issue happens when you have a lot of cached data saved in your browser. In this article, we discussed how to clear browser cache in almost every browser. We discussed how to use a hotkey to reach a clear browsing data page.
Keep in mind, once you delete this information, you cannot restore them back. Therefore, you need to be sure if you really want to delete this information. By clearing your browser cache every month or every two weeks you can improve your browser’s speed.