Clearing Browser Cache

Browser Cache:

When you use a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge), the browser saves some information in a file from the websites you visit. The files created are called cookies.

Cookies provide the ability for a website to remember a user. When you allow cookies, certain actions within a website are remembered by the site and referenced to your visit. The next time you visit the site, these preferences are remembered from your last visit. Examples include the zip code selection on Weather.com, or a username and password.  These preferences in turn speed up the loading of pages during subsequent visits to the site, because the site relies on the cookies to recreate the web page, rather than rendering the page from scratch.

Ross IT suggests periodically clearing your browser cache to delete cookies. This action may fix certain problems, like loading or formatting issues on sites. In addition, a website may display updated information, since the page is not relying on the displaying of outdated content since it has to recreate the entire page.

What happens after you clear this info:

Some settings on the site will get deleted. For example, if you were signed into an account within a site, you’ll need to sign in again. Some sites can seem slower because content, like images, need to load again. This decrease in performance is only temporary, since the site will create new cookies when the page loads.

Information on browsers:

How do I know what browser I use?

How to delete your browser cache:

Clearing Browser Cache in Chrome

Clearing Browser Cache in Edge

Clearing Browser Cache in Firefox

Clearing Browser Cache in Safari

Last Updated on May 10, 2025