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Temporary Internet files--what
are they ? |
Each time you open a Web page, your browser creates a
cache file (a temporary copy) of the
page's text and graphics. When you
open the page again, for example,
when you click on the toolbar Back
button, your browser checks the Web
site server for changes to the page.
If the page has changed, your
browser retrieves a new version over
the network. If the page hasn't
changed, your browser uses the cache
files from your RAM or hard drive to
display the page. For example,
Internet Explorer caches Web pages
to both memory (RAM) and disk (hard
drive) until the respective cache is
full; Internet Explorer then
rotates out pages based on age.
Internet Explorer designed this
system to help load Web pages
quicker. However, if you've viewed
lots of Web pages, you may have an
overloaded hard disk cache, which
Internet Explorer will have to
check before it loads a new page.
Unfortunately, over time, your
browser's cache grows. A cache full
of outdated information is worse
than no cache at all. It causes
problems with Java applets, causes
you to see out of date text or
images, and makes your browser
sluggish starting and exiting. The
solution is to clear out the cache.
By default, the location of temporary Internet files
(for Internet Explorer) is
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local
Settings\Temporary Internet Files
( For Win2000 and Windows XP) and
c:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files
( for Win95, Win98 ,Windows ME)
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