What is browser cache?

In order to speed up web browsing, web browsers are designed to download web pages and store them locally on your computer's hard drive in an area called "cache". Browser cache (also know as Internet cache) contains records of every item you have viewed or downloaded while Internet surfing. So when you visit the same page for a second time, the browser speeds up display time by loading the page locally from cache instead of downloading everything again.

 

Although storing Internet cache makes web browser faster as it usually takes your computer less time to display a web page when it can open page's elements or even the entire page from your local Temporary Internet Files folder, You sometimes want to overrule the Internet cache, for Example to see changes you made to a webpage you just uploaded. 

 

Clearing Cache Memory

 

To ensure you see the latest version of a site you need to clear the cache memory. This is done by doing a force refresh by pressing both Control and F5 buttons simultaneously on your keyboard (depending on your browser). Most times a simple force cache refresh won't work and you need to clear the cache by hand.



1) Click the Opera button at the top left of the browser.



2) Then click Settings.



3) Click Privacy & Security then click Clear browsing data.



4) A box will appear with the option to choose which parts you would like to delete. After selecting the ones you want click Clear Browsing data. (*We recommend only selecting Cached images and files to first troubleshoot webpage issues. If you need to clear cookies, we recommend following the guide linked at the end of this article. Clearing cookies will often log you out of websites. Use this as a last resort if clearing cache is not solving the problem.)




Reload the page you were attempting to access inspecting if it now works as intended.


*Clearing individual cookies:

In some cases, clearing cache is not enough to solve web page errors. You may need to delete specific cookies that store longer-term web page information. As said earlier, deleting a cookie can reset your login sessions on web pages. If you do need to delete cookies, we recommend following the official guide below containing more exhaustive information to locate where to delete specific cookies. Cookies will be assigned to a website domain like regent.edu or panopto.com

https://blogs.opera.com/tips-and-tricks/2023/04/clean-browser-and-remove-trackers/