When you use a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc) and view web pages these files are automatically saved on your computer. These are known as browser cache or temporary internet files.
Each browser users a different location on your computer to save its ‘cache’, and each browser has its own way of clearing this cache. If these aren’t cleaned out regularly they can consume a large amount of space on your computer!
Below there is a step by step method for cleaning the cache from Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox.
Internet Explorer
The first step in clearing the cache/temporary internet files for Internet Explorer is to open a browser window, and select ‘Tools’ (or the icon on the right that looks like a gear) from the top menu and then select ‘Internet Options’.
Once this window loads up, we are looking for the ‘Delete’ button. Click this button then make sure ‘Temporary Internet Files’ is checked, then click ‘OK’. This can take a while to process if there is a lot of files to delete. Once done, click ‘OK’ and close the control panel window.
Chrome
To clean the cache in Google Chrome, simply press CTRL+SHIFT+DEL with Chrome open. Make sure the top says ‘Obliterate the following items from: the beginning of time’ to ensure all files are removed. Also, ensure that ‘Empty the cache’ is checked and click ‘Clear browsing data’. This may take a while to remove all the files if there is alot of files that are saved.
Firefox
Cleaning Firefox’s cache is similar to the other browsers. First, open a Firefox browser window, and click ‘Tools’ from the top menu. Then go down to Options’. When the window has opened click on the Advanced tab (on the far right). Next, open the Network tab. Under ‘Cached Web Content’, click the ‘Clear Now’ button to clear the Firefox cache. Once done, click Ok and close the browser window.
Or, you can just forget all of the steps above and use Little Privacy Cleaner to do it for you. Your choice. 😉