If you’re having problems with your browser and someone says, “You need more cache.” They’re not talking about the green stuff with a President’s picture on the front -- even though having that helps when dealing with computers.

They’re talking about your disk cache or memory cache. What is cache?

Many browsers come with this feature. Each time you download a page, the browser saves the pages on your hard disk so that you won’t have to download frequently accessed pages each time you visit that URL. This feature can also cause you to get an older version of the page shown on the screen and that’s why some pages say to press your “Reload” button to see the newest version. I’ve been told that your browser is supposed to detect changes in the new page and download it if there are changes....but this doesn’t always happen. It will on a “Reload.” I’ve even seen where you have to hit “Reload” several times to get the newer version -- but not always.

Is it time to clear your cache in your web browser? If you’re getting a lot of these:

It’s possible that you need to clear your cache. I’ve been told that in the 3.0 and earlier versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer, that even though they have the cache maximum settings features, they don’t necessarily clear the cache automatically when you reach that max. Therefore, your machine can get really loaded, and your cache can get loaded, and when you go to use your browser, you get the above error message.

If this happens, try clearing your cache. Here’s how in Netscape. Go to your Options menu, then your Network Preferences menu.

The following screen will open:

Press both buttons: “Clear Memory Cache Now” and “Clear Disk Cache Now.”

In Internet Explorer, click the Preferences button. Click “Advanced.” To the right click “empty” next to the “cache” section.

That should do it! I’d recommend clearing your cache about once a month or more depending on your Internet activity.

Modified: 02/11/99