When and How to Clear your Browser's Cache

If you just want to know how to clear your cache and don't care why, you can skip down to When should I clear my browser cache below.

Your web browser (or browser, for short) is the program that you use to go on the internet. The most popular web browsers are Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. To speed up web browsing, every browser stores some temporary files on your computer so it doesn't have to repeatedly download the same files from the internet. These temporary files are referred to as the browser's cache (pronounced "cash") or temporary internet files.They typically contain copies of images and web pages. The cache is NOT the same as "cookies." That's a different lesson.

FacultyWeb is just a web site (albeit a pretty complicated one), which the RenWeb programmers are constantly improving. Three cheers for improvements!! If the programmers make an change to FacultyWeb and your browser's cache has an old copy of some of the program pages, you'll probably get errors. Maybe even the famous Server Error 500!

By the way, the RenWeb desktop program doesn't care about your cache. When the desktop program is updated, you have to download and re-install the whole thing.

• Whenever FacultyWeb displays a message telling you to
• Whenever FacultyWeb is giving you errors
• Before doing something important like report cards, even if everything seems fine

It's depends on which browser version you use. Here are some popular ones. If yours is not listed here, search your browser's Help menu for "clear cache."

• Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8:

Tools menu > Delete Browsing History > Temporary Internet Files -OR-
Tools menu > Internet Options > Browsing History > Delete > Temp Internet Files > Delete -OR-
Tools menu > Internet Options > Temporary Internet Files > Delete
Note: IE8 has two Tools menus! Use the one at the very top, not the one in the upper right.

• Firefox 3 for Mac or Windows:

Tools menu > Clear Private Data > Cache

• Firefox 3.5 for Mac or Windows:

Tools menu > Clear Recent History
Time range to clear: Everything
Click the down arrow next to "Details"
Select Cache

• Safari for Mac: Safari menu > Empty Cache
• Safari for Windows: Edit menu > Empty Cache