Clearing Your Browsers Cache

Thanks to Keith, we have a general idea of what caching is and how it works. The next step is learning what to do when someone from Powderkeg asks you to “clear your cache” or do a “hard refresh”. Now you’re probably asking yourself what a “hard refresh” is — when you refresh your browser, your browser relies heavily on cached content to reduce loading times. A hard refresh simply tells your browser to ignore any cached content and load fresh assets straight from the server.

For the most part, a “hard refresh” will do the trick most of the time, but sometimes you may need to completely clear your cache. Below is a quick overview of how to do both a hard refresh as well as clearing your cache in many popular browser/operating system combinations.

Internet Explorer

To do a hard refresh in any version of Internet Explorer, simply press CTRL + F5 on your keyboard and you should be served up a nice fresh version of your website.

Clearing your cache is a bit different across the multiple versions of Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer Version 8

1. On your toolbar select Tools. A menu should pop up that looks similar to this screenshot.
2. Select Internet Options from the dropdown menu. A dialog box should pop up — switch to the General tab if it isn’t shown by default.
3. Under the Browsing history sub-heading, click on the Delete… button. Another dialog box should display.
4. Ensure that Preserve Favorites website data is unchecked and Temporary Internet files remains checked. Optionally you may delete any store Cookies or your Browser History from this same screen.
5. Lastly, click Delete and your cache will be cleared. This may take a few seconds based on how much information is cached.

Internet Explorer Version 9 + 10

1. On your toolbar click on the gear icon to bring up the dropdown menu. Under the Safety menu item, select Delete browsing history…. A dialog box should pop up — alternatively you can press Ctrl + Shift + Del to bring up the same dialog box.
2. Ensure that Preserve Favorites website data is unchecked and Temporary Internet files remains checked. Optionally you may delete any store Cookies or your Browser History from this same screen.
3. Lastly, click Delete and your cache will be cleared. This may take a few seconds based on how much information is cached.
4. If successful, a prompt will display at the bottom of your browser stating “Internet Explorer has finished deleting the selected browsing history.”

Chrome and Firefox

Doing a hard refresh in Chrome or Firefox is a little bit different depending on which operating system you are on. For Windows users, Ctrl + F5 will do the trick, whereas anyone using a Mac will have to press Command + Shift + R to accomplish a hard refresh.

Google Chrome

Please reference this helpful guide from Google.

Mozilla Firefox

Please reference this helpful guide from Mozilla.