When you use the Google search engine or enter a website, part of this process will be handled by cache and cookies. These are two common IT terms that are responsible for ensuring a seamless user experience. For example, cookies are used to store your browsing preferences for any website you enter.
The cache is designed to enhance your experience while surfing the web. It’s a storage system that contains website components like HTML, CSS code, and images. The types of information that are stored by cookies include login details, browsing sessions, and other forms of tracking data.
While cache and cookies enhance your experience, they can also cause problems over time, which is why you should consider clearing them regularly. The cache can eventually cause loading problems and take up too much internal storage space. Cookies allow websites to effectively track your online movements. Clearing cookies can help you prevent tracking and protect data when using a shared device. This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to clear cache and cookies.
What Are Cache and Cookies?
When you use an internet browser to purchase products on Amazon or chat with friends on Facebook, your experience will be impacted by cache and cookies.
What Is Cache?
A cache is a type of local storage that’s commonly used in the information technology sector. When it comes to browsing websites, cache memory allows browsers to hold some of the more resource-intensive aspects of a website, such as images and videos.
When a user enters a website for the first time, their browser will load the graphical elements normally. If the user revisits the same page in a couple of days, the browser will immediately retrieve the components that were previously loaded, which provides the user with faster performance. By effectively reducing load times, the user will likely have a better experience.
Along with videos and images, cache content can also include downloadable content, logos, and graphic interface elements. If you manage a website, it’s best to avoid caching JavaScript code. Cache data is often stored in hardware components inside the user’s computer, the primary of which is random access memory (RAM). Instead of loading the elements from the web server, they will be retrieved from the memory directly, which significantly improves the browsing experience.
The main drawback to cache storage is that memory is limited. Over time, the user won’t have much space left, which can lead to slowdown while browsing the internet. This form of memory also needs powerful hardware to properly handle files while also maintaining high performance.
What Are Cookies?
Cookies are text files that are used to collect data. Businesses rely on them to get information about the experiences people have when navigating their websites. These tiny text files store information about a browsing session and are stored on the user’s device. You can separate them into third-party cookies and first-party cookies.
Third-party cookies can be stored on a company’s domain or service. While these cookies are also designed to store information, they mainly enhance user profiling and advertising. It’s common for third-party cookies to be referred to as tracking cookies.
As for first-party cookies, they are used by websites to remember preferences, login details, and shopping cart info. When you visit a website, first-party cookies will be stored there to ensure details about your session are remembered.
There are several things that websites can do with the data that’s collected by cookies, which include everything from remembering preferences to automatically showing your login info. The pages you click and the amount of time you spend on different areas of the website will also be tracked. Cookies are simplistic files that don’t use much memory. Even though websites can learn about users with this information, it doesn’t contain any personal details.
Why You Should Clear Cache and Cookies
There are a few reasons why you should clear cache and cookies regularly. For one, cache storage can take up a lot of space on your computer, which will slow down web browsing. Clearing the cache maximizes your storage availability, which should improve browser performance.
Getting rid of cookies will also enhance privacy and security. These files are used by websites to track your preferences. If you want to reduce the amount of information they have access to, it’s highly recommended that you routinely clear your cookies. If you’ve been having issues loading certain websites, clearing your cache and cookies might resolve the problem.
How to Clear Cache and Cookies in Different Browsers
Clearing cache and cookies is a straightforward process regardless of the browser you’re using. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to clear cache and cookies for every popular browser.
Clearing Cache and Cookies in Google Chrome
1. Select the three dotted lines that are displayed along the upper-right corner of your browser. This is the tools menu.
2. Click on History.
3. Choose Clear Browsing Data. You’ll notice the Time Range, which you should set to All Time. Make sure you clear cookies, site data, cached images, and files.
4. Click Clear Data.
5. You’ll need to close and reopen Chrome in order to save these changes when using a Windows computer.
Clearing Cache and Cookies in Mozilla Firefox
1. Select the Tools bar.
2. On Windows, click Settings. This section is labeled Preferences on Mac devices.
3. Choose Privacy & Security.
4. Click Clear Data below the Cookies and Site Data section.
5. Choose both options before clicking Clear Now.
6. Close and reopen your Firefox browser to make sure these changes are saved.
Clearing Cache and Cookies in Safari
1. Select the Safari button along the top bar.
2. Choose Preferences.
3. Select Privacy.
4. Click on the Manage Website Data button.
5. Choose Remove All.
6. Select Remove Now.
7. Navigate to the Safari button again to quit and close, which will save your changes.
Clearing Cache and Cookies in Microsoft Edge
1. Select the three dotted lines at the upper-right corner, which will allow you to open Settings.
2. Choose Privacy before clicking on search and services.
3. You’ll see a clear browsing data section. Select the “Choose what to clear” option.
4. Click on cookies, cached images, files, and other site data.
5. Choose Clear Now.
6. Exit the browser to make sure your changes are saved.
Clearing Cache and Cookies on Mobile Devices
You can also delete cache and cookies on mobile devices without issue. Follow the steps below to clear this data from your Android or iOS device.
Clearing Cache and Cookies on Android Devices
1. Enter the Chrome browser.
2. Click the More button, which is located along the top right.
3. Select History and Clear Browsing Data.
4. Input your preferred time range.
5. Check cookies, cached images and files, and site data.
6. Click the Clear Data button to confirm these changes.
Clearing Cache and Cookies on iOS Devices
If you’re using Safari, follow the steps below.
1. Enter the Settings app.
2. Select the Safari Menu before clicking on Clear History and Website Data.
3. You’ll see a pop-up that asks you to verify this decision. Click Clear History and Data again.
4. This button will eventually turn gray, which tells you that the process has been completed.
When using Chrome, take the following steps.
1. Open the Google Chrome browser.
2. The lower right corner includes a Menu toolbar that you should click.
3. Navigate to Settings and Privacy.
4. Highlight site data, cookies, and cached files. The time range should be set to All Time.
5. Select the Clear Browsing Data button.
6. Confirm your choice by clicking the button again.
Common Issues and Troubleshooting Tips
If you are having performance issues while browsing websites or find yourself unable to access a specific site, the problems likely have nothing to do with cache and cookies. Before looking for other solutions, make sure you’ve cleared all of your cache and cookies. It’s not enough to only clear a week’s worth of this storage.
Outside of cache and cookies, performance issues can be caused by practically anything. For example, your graphics drivers might need to be updated. While there are many potential causes for the problem, there are specific steps you can take in the meantime to maintain browser performance.
Before doing anything else, check the speed and performance of your internet, which you can do by typing “speed test” into the Google search engine. If your speeds are well below what they should be, you might need to restart your modem.
You can also update your browser to see if this will improve performance. Browsers like Firefox and Chrome are updated regularly. Once an update is published, old versions will start performing poorly. You should be able to update to the latest software by closing your browser and reopening it.
It’s also a good idea to remove any extensions or plugins that might be causing slowdown. Every extension you run will automatically cause a small amount of slowdown. However, some of these programs have poor designs, which can lead to significant performance issues when they’re running. Before you install any extension or plugin, read reviews to make sure they don’t damage performance too much.
If you have any tabs opened in your browser that you aren’t currently using, close them to free up some memory. When too many tabs are open, it’s possible for videos to start stuttering and multimedia to have glitches. Your browser might lock up entirely. You can fix this issue by simply closing tabs.
Conclusion
Clearing cache and cookies allows you to free up storage space, improve website performance, and have a better user experience. While you can clear this data at any time, try to make it a regular habit. Clearing your cache and cookies often should prevent performance issues altogether. Check out Avast’s guide to learn more about the steps you can take to improve internet performance.
