Number 197 - October 1999

Clearing Cache in Internet Explorer 5
by Bob Thomson, Tacoma Open Group
Recently, John Greve wrote in Q Bits about his experiences with the TCI's @Home service. Advice given to him by the installing technician was to "clean my cache weekly". John wrote: "You do this by getting into your browser and clicking on Edit, Preferences, Advance, Cache. Look for Clean and click it. This sped up my browser after service was restored."     I brought up my browser, Internet Explorer 5, and tried this but could not find the Preferences, Advance, Clear options. So I gave up for the time being.     Then Ray Mills and I were discussing a Website problem by e-mail, where I was getting a different screen display from him, in one area. He suggested that I clear my cache because my results were inconsistent with his, and he thought it was possible that my cache was retaining an out-of-date image that could account for the difference.     I went on the Web and used Google to research "Clear Cache". It made several hits with step-by-step solutions for the various versions of Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and the Macintosh.	For Internet Explorer 5, it said:     From the main menu     - Select "Tools/Internet Options"     - Change to the "General" tab     - Click on "Delete Files" button     Again, the suggested comands were nowhere to be seen on my browser's main menu screen. But wait a minute... As many of you know, and I had observed, several items may be hidden and their presence is indicated by a sideways, double chevron >> or a down arrow v. There was such a double chevron in the upper right corner of my screen. Clicking on it revealed a menu which included Edit, View, Favorites, Tools, Help.     I selected Tools, Internet Options, General, Delete Files as outlined above. It was recommended that I restart my computer which I did. It didn't solve the problem that Ray and I had with the website, but, at least, I learned something. I hope you did too.     I never did find the choices suggested by John Greve. Guess why. They are for those of you using Netscape Communicator 4.x.
Number 197 - October 1999