You can consider clearing the browser as a crucial step for almost any troubleshooting process in case of browsing. But first, let us tell you what the browser cache is and how it works. Well, web browser cache stores details on your browser for holding web pages, images and other web information. Now be it connection errors or slow speed page loading, clearing browsing data from your web browser can enhance the quality of your browsing experience. Therefore, you have to know how to clear browsing data from your internet browser. In this article, we will discuss how to clear browser cache and cookies for different browsers.
What Does Clearing Cache Do?
What is a browser cache? When you enter a website, your device always collects some basic data about that page on your device’s hard drive, in the form of a browser cache. This is true, to a certain level, useful for your daily browsing experience. Browser cache makes it easier for you to enter a website you had entered before by minimizing the process of collecting data all over again. But this cache also plays a major role in slowing your browser down. This may cause your YouTube videos to buffer or simply a page to get stuck instead of opening. Clearing web cache restores the former speed, and kind of freshens up your browsing experience as well. Let’s see how to empty browser cache for multiple browsers.
Case 1: How to Clear Browser Cache in Google Chrome?
If you are browsing on Google Chrome on Windows 10, then you can clear up the browsing cache using the following method:
1. Locate the “Tools” menu on the upper right corner of the Google Chrome homepage.
2. Select the option “History” from the menu to proceed further with this method.
3. Select the “clear browsing data” option and change the time range to “All time”.
4. Tick boxes called “Cookies and other site data”, “Cached images and file”.
5. Select the option “Clear data” in order to remove cache from your browser.
6. Close the chrome window and then re-enter the chrome page in order to get your settings changes. If you are using an Apple device, then find “Chrome” on the menu bar and select the “Quit” option.
Case 2: Clear Cache Safari iOS
Following a few simple steps as mentioned below, you can clear cache in your Apple device.
1. Open the “Settings” option on your device.
2. Now, navigate to the “Safari” menu on “Settings” and find the option “Clear history and website data”.
3. Now a pop-up will appear on the screen, confirming whether you want to clear the web history and data. Select the option “Clear history and data”.
4. To confirm that the data has been cleared, you can check if the “Clear history and website data” button has turned grey or not.
Case 3: How to Clear Cache Internet Explorer?
1. Open the “Internet explorer” app on your device and click on the “Tools” icon on the upper right corner of the page.
2. As the drop-down menu opens, navigate to “Internet options” from that list.
3. Go to the tab called “General”. Then go to the “Browser history” section and press the “Delete” button.
4. Tick boxes “Temporary internet files and website files” and other boxes that you need to clear data for. Press the “Delete” button again.
Case 4: How to Clear Browser Cache on Mozilla Firefox?
1. Open Mozilla Firefox on your device.
2. Go to the upper right corner of your browser window, and click on the option with 3 bars.
3. When the drop-down menu opens, go to the “Options”. There you will see the tab called “Privacy and security”.
4. Select the option “Cookies and site data” and then choose the option “Clear data.”
5. Tick the box “Caches web content” and “Delete cookies and site data”, and press “Clear”. Now close and browser and refresh the page.
Case 5: How to Clear Cache on Opera?
1. Open the “Opera” browser and click on the menu button.
2. Click on “Settings”, where the drop-down menu opens.
3. There would be an “Advanced” tab on the screen’s left side, click on that.
4. Now opt for the “Privacy and security” option and press the “Clear browsing data” button.
5. Tick on all boxes that you want to clear cache for, including “Cached images and files”.
6. Now, determine the time frame you want to clear cache history for, select “The beginning of time” if you want to erase all the cache data.
7. Finally, press the “Clear browsing data” button to complete this whole clearing cache process.
Case 6: How to Clear Cache on Microsoft Edge?
1. After opening Microsoft Edge, click on the “Tools” menu button.
2. After the drop-down list comes, choose “Settings”.
3. After opening “Settings”, tap on “Privacy, search and services” on the menu.
4. There should be a section called “Clear browsing data”. Navigate to the “Choose what to clear” option.
5. Check “Cookies and other site data” and “Cached images and files” options and click on the “Clear now” button.
6. Now close the Microsoft Edge browser in order to confirm the changes you made to settings.
Case 7: How to Clear Cache for Safari in MacOS?
1. Open Safari on your Mac device and select “Preferences”.
2. Navigate to the “Privacy” tab and open it. Go to the “Manage website data” option.
3. Now, first click on “Remove all”, then select “Remove now”.
4. Again go back to the “Safari” menu, and press the button for “Quit”. Refresh the page, and you get your desired results.
Case 8: How to Force Browser to Clear Cache?
There is another smart way to enhance your browsing experience: “Force refresh”. This method won’t actually remove any cache data but refreshes the browser to give you a modified browsing experience. Here is how you can force refresh a webpage in any web browser to get an uninterrupted experience.
- In case you own Windows and Linux browsers, press “Ctrl + F5” buttons together on your keyboard.
- If you are surfing on the “Apple Safari” browser, press the “Shift” key and “Reload” button together.
- In Chrome and Firefox browsers on Mac devices, press “CMD”, “Shift”, and “R” keys together on your keyboard.
Conclusion
On a concluding note, we cannot deny that clearing browser cache can noticeably enhance our browsing experience in general. But the process of doing so differs from browser to browser. Even though the major steps are quite similar irrespective of devices, it can be confusing sometimes to understand how to clear the cache on a particular browser. In this very article, we have tried to give you a sneak peek into different web browsers and their specific way of clearing cache. If you remember to follow these simple steps while clearing your browser cache, then we can guarantee you a smooth browsing experience from our side.