Updated at: Feb 14, 2022
Normally, there's not a whole lot of reasons you need to clear your cache. Most web browsers will hold on to these temporary files for a set amount of time (usually a few weeks) so that when you return to a website, your browser doesn't have to re-download the files for that website all over again. The cache makes it much faster to browse a website, as your computer or phone doesn't need to redownload every image over and over each time you load a page; it just reuses it from the cache.
When you encounter a problem using a website, one of the first things Tech Support will often suggest is to "clear your cache". This means they are asking you to wipe the collection of temporary files your web browser has automatically collected and which relate to the websites you visit.
Clearing your cache means that all the temporary files your browser has downloaded are deleted - it gives you a sort of "clean slate", and forces your web browser to re-download fresh versions of all the files for that website.
Every website is made up of lots and lots of different files - images, styles, code, sounds, videos, etc. These files all need to "work together" nicely to make the website operate properly. Sometimes there can be conflicts, bugs, and quirks with some of these files, and so if you're having problems a good first step is to just delete all of the temporary files your computer or phone has saved, and let your browser download a fresh version of the website.
Sometimes a website might have had some kind of problem with it, and because your computer keeps a copy of the code (in the cache), so even when the problem with the website is fixed by their developers, you still encounter the problem. Clearing your cache and cookies is a good way to "reset" your browser so that you try everything fresh again.
No, definitely not, but if the problem you are having is related to conflicts between versions of files, or if your browser has saved a temporary copy of a website asset that has a bug in it then clearing your cache and downloading a fresh copy certainly might solve your problem.
If you own a website and you have a web developer who is making changes to it for you, you might find that sometimes when you re-load your website to inspect the latest bit of work they've done for you, you don't actually see the new changes. Or perhaps, only some of the changes have appeared, while other things are still broken, old, or look strange.
This can be very confusing but the reason is because your web browser is showing you some or all of the old "cached" versions of your website from your browser's temporary files. In order to see the very latest version of the site, you need to clear your browser's cache - which forces your web browser to download a completely "fresh" version of your website, so that you can look at the latest version.
I've heard some people claim that clearing your browser's cache will improve the performance of your browser (because your computer's hard drive will be "less cluttered" by the temporary files stored on it), however while this might have been true a long time ago, with modern hardware (in particular the blazingly fast SSD Hard Drives that most modern computers use), I really think that clearing your cache will not speed things up in any significant way.
In fact - if anything - the reverse is true! Clearing your browser's cache will slow things down a fraction, because instead of loading website assets from the temporary copy in your cache, your computer or phone will have to redownload them from the website, and that will be slower than just loading them from your cache!
Once your browser has re-cached the website's assets then you'll be running smoothly again, but if you're worried about speeding up your browsing experience, clearing your cache isn't something you need to worry about.
Yes, clearing your cache will free up some space on your hard drive. However if you're running out of disk space and need to clear out some space, then clearing your browser's cache probably won't help much. Web browsers will only allow a small fraction of your hard drive to be used for caching the temporary files it uses. And while clearing it will technically free up some space, it probably won't help that much.
You would probably be better off searching for the larger files on your computer - such as movies, songs, and application installers - and if you are sure you no longer need them, you could delete them. Or, you could buy an external hard drive and move those bigger files off your computer to the hard drive.
Clear instructions to clear your cache, cookies, and history. follow the guides.
Before you consider clearing your browser cache, you should know what it is!
Have you heard the phrase "clear your cache" but aren't sure what it means?
Not sure why you've been asked to clear your cache?
Need to completely reload a page but don't want to clear your entire cache?
Can clearing cookies help with problems or privacy? Here's some info.
Are there any risks to clearing your cache?
When I decide to clear my cache or cookies, what actually happens?