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 known 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.
How to clear cache and cookies manually:
1. Click on the 3 vertical dots in the upper right corner of Chrome and click on Settings from the drop down menu:
2. Then click Privacy and security and locate Clear Browsing Data.
3. Change the settings to clear only Cached images and files. Set the time range for All time. (*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.)
After the cache has been cleared, reload the page you were visiting to check if the page is now loading correctly.
*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 to locate where to delete specific cookies. Cookies will be assigned to a website domain like regent.edu or panopto.com.