Clearing Your Browser Cache and Disabling Caching

"Caching" is a web browser feature that saves Internet files to your computer in order to display pages more quickly. This feature can sometimes make it difficult to load new pages or display updated information, as the browser may repeatedly display an older copy saved in the cache rather than downloading the new one. Clearing the cache and disabling it can often alleviate these issues.

Please consult with your company's IT/IS personnel if you are not familiar with changing your browser settings.

Clearing the Browser Cache

Internet Explorer 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x for Windows

1. From the Tools menu (for version 4.x, the View menu), select Internet Options... .
2. Choose the General tab.
3. In the "Temporary Internet Files" section, click Delete Files... .
4. To confirm the deletion, click OK.
5. In the Internet Options dialog box, click OK.

Netscape Navigator 7.1 for Windows

1. From the Edit menu, select Preferences... .
2. In the left panel of the Preferences dialog box, click the + (plus sign) in the box to the left of Advanced. Click Cache.
3. Click Clear Cache.
4. In the Preferences dialog box, click OK.

Netscape Navigator 4.x, 6.x, and 7.0 for Windows

1. From the Edit menu, select Preferences... .
2. In the left panel of the Preferences dialog box, click the + (plus sign) in the box to the left of Advanced. Click Cache.
3. Click Clear Memory Cache. Confirm by clicking OK.
4. Click Clear Disk Cache. Confirm by clicking OK.
5. In the Preferences dialog box, click OK.

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 and 1.5 for Windows

1. From the Tools menu, select Options... , and then click Privacy.
2. In 1.5, select the Cache tab, and then click the Clear Cache Now button. In 1.0, next to Cache, click the Clear button, and then click OK.

Internet Explorer 4.x and 5.x for Mac OS and Mac OS X

1. In Mac OS X, from the Explorer menu, select Preferences... . In Mac OS 9.x and earlier, from the Edit menu, select Preferences... .
2. In the left panel, click the arrow to the left of Web Browser. Click the Advanced button.
3. Under "Cache", click Empty Now, then click OK.

Netscape 6.x or later and Mozilla for Mac OS and Mac OS X

1. In Mac OS X, from the Netscape or Mozilla menu, select Preferences... . In Mac OS 9.x or earlier, from the Edit menu, select Preferences... .
2. In the left panel of the Preferences dialog box, click the arrow to the left of Advanced. Click Cache.
3. Either click the Clear Cache button, or click both the Clear Memory Cache and Clear Disk Cache buttons.
4. In the Preferences dialog box, click OK.

Netscape Navigator 4.x for Mac OS

1. From the Edit menu, select Preferences... .
2. In the left panel, click the arrow to the left of Advanced.
3. Click Cache.
4. Click Clear Disk Cache Now, then click OK. Click OK again.

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 and 1.5 for Mac OS X

1. From the Firefox menu, select Preferences... .
2. From the sheet that drops down, select Privacy. In 1.5, click Clear Cache Now. In 1.0, next to Cache, click the Clear button, and then OK.

Safari for Mac

1. From the Safari menu, select Empty Cache... .
2. When prompted, click Empty to confirm that you want to empty the cache.

Disabling Caching

Internet Explorer

Selecting 'Tools' → 'Internet Options'. In the section 'Temporary Internet files' , click the 'Settings...' button. There is an option labeled "Check for a new version of stored pages:" Select "Every visit to the page."

Mozilla Firefox (all versions) and Netscape Navigator (versions 6.x and 7.x).

1. From the 'Edit' or 'Tools' menu, choose 'Preferences' or 'Options'. Expand the 'Advanced' options and choose 'Cache' or 'Privacy'.
2. For Mozilla Firefox, go to 'Tools' → 'Options' and click on 'Privacy' (picture of a key) in the sidebar of the window that pops up.
3. To disable the cache permanently:
   Click on the word 'Cache' and tell the computer to allocate 0 KB to store the cache in.

Safari

1. Quit Safari by choosing 'Quit' from the 'Safari' menu, or by holding down the Command key and pressing Q.
2. Open a Terminal window by double-clicking 'Terminal' within the 'Utilities' folder, which is within the 'Applications' folder.
3. Type the following commands, which are case-sensitive, each followed by the Enter key:
   rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/Safari
   touch ~/Library/Caches/Safari
   
4. Close the Terminal window by typing exit followed by the Enter key, or by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing D.
   Relaunch Safari.