Clear Cache, Cookies and History in Internet Explorer

Updated at: May 23, 2024

Internet Explorer has a way to clear some or all of the browsing data from your computer. To get to these controls and choose what you want to clear, follow these instructions.

  1. Click the Settings "gear" icon

    With your opened copy of Internet Explorer, find the icon which looks like a gear in the top right hand corner of the window, and click it.

    The Settings icon in Internet Explorer

  2. Click "Internet Options"

    When you click the Settings gear a menu will appear; one of the options near the bottom is Internet Options. Click it to open the options screen.

    The Internet Options menu item

    You will now see a window appear called Internet Options.

  3. Click the "Delete" button

    On the first tab which appears there is a section labelled Browsing history. It contains Delete... and Settings buttons.

    The Delete button on the main Internet Options screen

    When you click the Delete... button a new window appears giving you options about what should be deleted.

  4. Choose what to delete from Internet Explorer

    The new window shows you a list of different things which can be cleared from Internet Explorer.

    Choose what you want to delete or keep by ticking and unticking the various checkboxes.

    Note that the very first one is a double-negative... by keeping it ticked, you preserve the local cache of Favorites data.

    The list of options you can choose to clear

    When you just want to do a basic "clear your browser" type of refresh, you probably want to just have Temporary Internet files and website files, Cookies and website data, and History checked with the others unchecked. Checking the other options may clear more data from your computer than you need to...

    Having Form data, Passwords and/or Tracking Protection, ActiveX Filtering and Do Not Track ticked will clear the values and exceptions you have previously entered and configured. You may want to preserve these.

  5. Click the "Delete" button

    Once you have chosen what you want to delete from Internet Explorer, proceed by clicking the Delete button at the bottom of the window.

    The final Delete button to click

    Internet Explorer will then delete those items.

    You can then just close the settings windows and resume browsing the internet.

Clear your cache and cookies in other web browsers

Here are some guides for other web browsers like Chrome or Firefox.

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Clearing your cache, cookies, and browsing history - Frequently asked questions