Your Browser’s Cache is its Stash

Your Browser’s Cache is its Stash

Here’s how to clear your cache in the three most popular browsers

Your browser’s cache stores websites’ “static assets”, which are the parts of a website that don’t change from one visit to the next. It also contains cookies and a complete record of your browsing history.

While caching can help speed up web browsing and makes pages load faster, too much of a good thing is not always a good thing.

Your browser’s cache also stores your browsing history. It not only is a cache of website assets, cookies, and other data, it also stores your complete browsing history.

It keeps a record of all the web pages you’ve visited since the last time you cleared your browser’s cache. Think of your browser’s cache as its stash – where it stashes away just about everything you see or do while you’re using it.

Even if you don’t care that someone can look at your browser’s cache and see every page you’ve ever visited, since the last time you cleared your cache, it’s a matter of good housekeeping to clean up the cache every few weeks (at least).

Here’s our guide to clearing the cache for the three most popular web browsers. We’re going to do this in the order of the browser’s popularity. Microsoft Edge has now surpassed Firefox to take over second place in the browser wars.

#1. Google Chrome

Click on the 3-vertical-dots icon in the top-right corner of Chrome. Then click “More tools” > “Clear browsing data”. Or if you’re a keyboard shortcut enthusiast, open Chrome, and press CTRL+SHIFT+DELETE to open the “Clear browsing data” dialog.

When the Clear browsing data dialog opens, select a time range. We suggest you choose “All time” as this will clear all Chrome history/cache.

Next, select what you want to clear.  Be careful here. If you use Chrome to store your passwords and sign-in data, you’ll want to make sure you don’t select “Passwords and other sign-in data”. We suggest you use the screenshot below as a guide.

When you’ve made your selections, just click the “Clear data” button. Keep in mind if you have never cleared Chrome’s cache/history, it may take a while to complete this task.

#2. Microsoft Edge

When Edge History opens, click on the 3 horizontal dots icon (see above). Then click “Clear browsing data” (see above).

The “Clear browsing data” dialog will open. Under “Time range”, if it’s not already selected, use the little down arrow to select the time range of “All time”. The first four items are pre-selected and unless you have reasons for choosing other items, just leave it as it is. Once you’ve double-checked the selections, click the “Clear now” button. If you’re signed in to your Microsoft account this will clear the Edge cache on all your devices.

That’s it. That’s how to clear your history/cache in Edge.

#3. Mozilla Firefox

To clear Firefox history/cache, open Firefox and click on the hamburger (3-horizontal lines) icon in the top-right corner and select “History > Clear recent history” or, with Firefox open, use the CTRL+SHIFT+DELETE shortcut to go directly to the “Clear recent history” dialog.

When the Firefox “Clear Recent History” dialog opens, your first task is to choose the time range to clear. You’ll usually want to choose “Everything”. So, use the little down arrow to open a dropdown menu, then, select “Everything”.<

With “Everything” selected, you can choose what items you want to delete. You can use the screenshot below as a guide. The items we have selected in the screenshot below should be fine for most of you. 

When you’ve made your selections, click “OK” to clear your Firefox history and cache.

When you think of your browser’s cache, think of it as your browser’s stash. Your browser’s cache contains static website assets and a complete log of your browsing history.