Web Browsers keep copies of non-secure web pages you visit on your hard drive and in the memory of your computer. They do this to improve the speed at which pages are displayed since there is no need to go back to a site to get a page that has already been displayed.

Sometimes though, this can prevent you from seeing the latest version of a page that you are developing and testing. There are two things that you can do to ensure that you are seeing the latest version of a page:

  1. Force the browser to refresh the page
  2. Clear the browser's cache

Usually one or the other will work, but occasionally you may need to do both.

Refreshing the Display in Your Web Browser

Where available below, Ctrl-F5 does a more complete refresh than does F5 or CTRL-R.

  • PC – Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera: Click on the recycle symbol, CTRL-R, F5 or Ctrl-F5.
  • Mac – Safari, Chrome: Command-R.

Clearing Your Browser's Cache

Most popular web browsers now allow you to easily clear the browsers cache by simply pressing [ctrl]+[shift]+[delete] keys at the same time. Keep in mind that clearning a browsers cache can take up to several minutes to complete so please be patient.

Here is how to go about doing it through the menu for some of the more popular web browsers:

PC: Internet Explorer 8 and 9

  • Click on the Tools menu, usually found at the right end of the toolbar.
  • Click on Delete Browsing History…
  • Make sure only the first two boxes are checked.
  • Click on Delete button.
  • Click on Close.

PC: Internet Explorer 7

  • Click on the Tools menu, usually found at the right end of the toolbar.
  • Click on Delete Browsing History…
  • Click on Delete files …
  • Click on Yes.
  • Click on Close.

PC: Internet Explorer 6.x

  • Click on Tools in the menu bar.
  • Click on Internet Options …
  • Click on the Delete Files… button in the middle of the Internet options dialogue box.
  • Check the box Delete all offline content.
  • Click the OK button on the Delete Files dialogue box.
  • Click the OK button on the Internet Options dialogue box.

PC: Chrome 22.x (might be the same on Mac)

  • Click on Customize and control Google Chrome icon (3 horizontal lines) near the upper right corner of the browser.
  • Click on Tools…
  • Click on Clear browsing data…
  • Set Obliterate the following items from: to the beginning of time
  • Make sure that ONLY the Empty the Cache checkbox is checked. Uncheck all other checkboxes.
  • Click on the Clear browsing data… button.
  • Click on Clear Cache Now button.
  • You will end up in theSettingstab. Just close that tab.

PC: Firefox 1.x

  • Click on Tools in the menu bar.
  • Click on Options…
  • Select the Privacy tab if necessary.
  • Select the Cache tab below this if necessary.
  • Click on the Settings… button.
  • Make sure that the Cache checkbox is checked. Uncheck all other checkboxes.
  • Click on the OK button.
  • Click on Clear Cache Now button.
  • Click on the OK button.

PC: Firefox 2.x

  • Click on Tools in the menu bar.
  • Click on Options…
  • Select the Privacy tab if necessary.
  • Click on the Settings… button in the Private Date area.
  • Make sure that the Cache checkbox is checked. Uncheck all other checkboxes.
  • Click on the OK button.
  • Click on Clear Now button.
  • Click on the OK button.

PC: Firefox 14.x

  • Click on Firefox button in the upper left corner of the browser.
  • Click on History…
  • Click on Clear recent history…
  • Set the Time range to clear to Everything
  • Make sure that the ONLY the Cache checkbox is checked. Uncheck all other checkboxes.
  • Click on Clear Now button.

PC: Opera

  • Click on Tools in the menu bar
  • Click on Preferences…
  • Click on the Advanced tab.
  • Click on History in the left list.
  • Click on the Empty now button.
  • Click on the OK button.

Mac: Safari

  • Click on Safari
  • Click on Empty Cache…
  • Click on the Empty button

Mac: Internet Explorer 5.x

  • Click on Explorer
  • Click on Preferences…
  • At the left, under Web Browser, click on Advanced
  • On the right, in the Cache section, click on the Empty Now button
  • Click on the OK button.

Mac: Firefox

  • Click on Firefox
  • Click on Preferences
  • Click on the Privacy tab on the left if necessary
  • Click on the Clear button to the right of Cache
  • Click on the OK button.

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