Troubleshooting
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      How to clear your browser cache & cookies and why it’s important.

      Below are some of the recommendations to clear browser cache and cookies for a better internet experience.

      What are cookies?

      Cookies are small files created by the websites you visit to hold information about your online activity. These files often improve your user experience by saving your passwords, remembering your preferences, and providing content relevant to your location. When you load a website, your browser sends this cookie back to the server to give the site this information. This exchange can add time to your browsing experience.

      Although you may have some privacy concerns about websites having access to your personal information, cookies only store your information for a short amount of time. The security of cookies is less of a concern, as long as you avoid suspicious websites and keep your device updated with antivirus software—such as the built-in security features of Windows 11.

      The main reason to clear your cookies is to improve overall internet speed. You may end up spending time trying to remember your passwords, but you’ll be able to browse new web pages faster.

      What is a cache?

      Your web cache shares similarities with cookies, but functions differently. Cookies save your user preferences and behaviors, and cache saves information about the web pages themselves. Both cache and cookies store data on your device, but while cookies expire eventually, you must manually clear your cache.

      A cache stores copies of all data that passes through it, like HTML pages and images, and helps display a web page. When you first visit a website, it might take time to load all of the online content, like images or videos. However, once it’s saved to the cache, your subsequent visits will load faster.

      Similar to clearing your cookies, deleting your browser cache improves your speed and performance. While the purpose of a cache is to make loading pages faster, over time it usually saves pages that you never even visit. Take the time to occasionally clear your cache for faster internet access and to free up storage space on your device.

      Steps for major browser types and phones:

      For Microsoft Edge: type "edge://settings/clearbrowserdata" in your address bar to access this function. OR
      1. Click the Three Dots icon in the top right of your browser window.
      2. Choose History.
      3. A new history module shows up to see the most recently visited websites. You should see another Three Dots icon within that module. Click that.
      4. In the resulting menu dropdown, choose Clear Browsing Data.
      5. Microsoft Edge now opens a Clear Browsing Data window. Choose the Cookies and other site data option. 
      1. With your selection made, go through the Time Range field to indicate how far back in your cache you want to delete.
      2. For the last step, click on the Clear Now That’s the easiest way to clear the browser cache in Microsoft Edge!
      For Google Chrome:
        1. Open Google Chrome and from the top-right corner of your screen, select “Settings” from the dropdown menu.
        2. Select “Settings” from the dropdown menu.
        3. In the left sidebar menu under “Privacy & Security,” click on “Clear browsing data”.
        4. In the pop-up window that appears, select a time range or choose “All Time.”
        5. Check off all desired items you want to delete such as cookies or cached images/files then click on “Clear Data.”
      For Mozilla FireFox:
        1. Navigate to your Mozilla Firefox browser and open it up.
        2. Select the three horizontal lines icon in the upper right-hand corner of your screen.
        3. A drop-down menu will appear; Click on “Options.”
        4. In the left sidebar menu, click on “Privacy & Security.”
        5. Scroll down to the “Cookies and Site Data” section and click on “Clear Data.”
        6. Select the items you want to clear, including cached web content, and click on “Clear.”
      For Safari:
        1. Open Safari and go to Preferences (CMD + ,).
        2. Click on the “Advanced” tab.
        3. Check the box next to “Show Develop menu in menu bar.”
        4. Click on “Develop” in the menu bar and select “Empty Caches.”
      For Brave:
      1. Click on the Customize and Control Brave button in the upper right corner. You may also know this as a hamburger button with three stacked horizontal lines.
      2. Select the Settings option to continue.
      3. There are multiple ways to get to the cache-clearing section on the Brave Settings The first one requires you to click the History button in the Settings menu.
      4. On the left side, click the Clear Browsing Data (Alternatively: you can use the History tab to go straight to the Privacy and Security item on the main Settings page)
      5. Click on Clear Browsing Data.
      6. Both of those methods bring you to the Clear Browsing Data popup window. As a result, you’re presented with three tabs: Basic, Advanced, and On Exit.
      7. It’s set to Basic by default, and most users won’t need anything more than that. Check each element you want to clear from the Brave cache.
      8. Before clearing the cache selection, click the Time Range dropdown menu to select how far you want to go back in your cache history.
      9. Once confident in your selections, click the ClearData

      For Mobile Devices:

      iOS: Clearing Cache in Safari


      If you’re using an iPhone or iPad, chances are you’re browsing with Safari. To clear your cache in Safari, follow these simple steps:

      1. Open the Settings app on your device.
      2. Scroll down and tap “Safari.”
      3. Select “Clear History and Website Data.”
      4. A prompt asks if you want to proceed; tap “Clear” to confirm.

      Note: that this action will also delete cookies and other website data Safari stores. 
      Android: Clearing Cache in Google Chrome 

      Android: Clearing Cache in Google Chrome

      If you have an Android device, chances are Google Chrome is your go-to browser. Here’s how to clear its cache:

      1. Open the Chrome app on your device.
      2. Tap the three-pointed symbol situated at the top right of the screen.
      3. Select “Settings” from the dropdown menu.
      4. In Settings, scroll down until you find “Privacy & Security,” then tap it.
      5. Navigate further into “Clear Browsing Data.”
      6. You’ll see two tabs – Basic & Advanced; choose either based upon which type of data needs clearing.
      7. Select the checkbox next to “Cached Images and Files” and tap “Clear Data” at the bottom of the screen.