Introduction:
To remove cache from the different devices and applications you will need to find settings or preferences. In browsers, it is usually under “History” or “Privacy”. On mobile devices you can find this in the app settings section. Cleaning the cache improves performance as one removes temporary files that collect over time.
Clear Cache on Desktops/Laptops:
Clearing cache on desktop computers or laptops is a pretty simple process. To do so, follow the steps below:
How to clear cache on Windows?
To clear cache on Windows desktop:
Browser Cache:
- Open your web browser.
- Press Ctrl + Shift+ Delete.
- Choose “Cached images and files” or anything similar to it.
- Click “Clear” or “Delete.”
System Cache (DNS):
- To open the Running dialog, press Win + R.
- Press Enter after typing “CMD” to open the Command Prompt.
- Type “ipconfig /flushdns” and press Enter.
Temporary Files:
- Press Win + R, type “%temp%” (without quotes) and click Enter.
- Remove files from the Temp directory. Some may be active and cannot be deleted – avoid these.
Disk Cleanup:
- Press Win + S, search for “Disk Cleanup,” and launch the utility.
- Choose the drive you want to clean.
- Select “Temporary files” and click on “OK” to delete them.
These steps help clean browser cache, DNS Cache temporary files and so on thus optimizing your desktop performance.
How to clear cache on MacOS?
To clear cache on macOS:
Browser Cache:
- With Safari, open the browser; then from its menu bar choose Safari followed by: “Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data” Remove All.
- Google Chrome: Press “Command + Shift + Delete”, choose “Cached images and files,” then click Clear Data.
- Mozilla Firefox: Press “Command + Shift + Delete”, select “Everything” from the Time range and click Clear Now.
System Cache:
- Open Terminal (which you can find with Spotlight using Command + Space and typing “Terminal”).
- Type in “sudo dscacheutil -flushcache” and hit the Enter key. Enter your password if prompted.
Application Cache:
- Some applications, such as Adobe Creative Cloud may even have their own cache systems. Clear caches by checking their preferences or settings.
- These processes clean browser cache, system cache and application specific caches in macOS.
These processes clean browser cache, system cache and application specific caches in macOS.
How to clear cache on MacBooks?
To clear cache on MacBook:
Browser Cache:
- Safari: Choose “Safari” in the menu bar and click it to clear history for a given period of time.
- Google Chrome: Use shortcut keys Command + Shift + Delete, after which choose the cached images and files option then select clear data.
- Mozilla Firefox: Press Command + Shift + Delete, in the Time Range select ‘Everything’, and click on “Clear Now.”
System Cache:
- Go to Terminal (you can find it through Spotlight with Command + Space and typing “Terminal”).
- On the command prompt, type sudo dscacheutil -flushcache and press Enter. Enter your password if prompted.
Application Cache:
- Other applications, such as browsers or mail clients can have separate cache clearing options under their preferences.
- These steps assist in clearing the browser cache, system cache and application-specific caches on MacBooks.
Clear Cache on Mobile Devices:
Clearing cache on mobile devices is a simple and direct procedure. Follow the steps outlined below:
How to Clear Cache on iPhone?
To clear cache on an iPhone:
Safari Browser Cache:
- Open the Settings app.
- Then scroll down and click “Safari.”
- Scroll down again and click “Clear History and Website Data.”
- Confirm your selection by tapping “Clear History and Data”.
App-specific Cache:
- Some apps also enable you to clear cache from their settings. Find individual app settings for features like “Clear Cache” or ‘Storage’.
System Cache:
- Restart your iPhone. This will not delete all caches but can help the system to refresh.
- You may also want to delete and then re install apps, but this can cause user data loss for the applications. Since iOS is supposed to effectively manage system resources, manual cache cleaning may not necessarily be required as in other platforms.
How to Clear Cache on Android devices?
To clear cache on Android devices:
- Go to “Settings” on your Android device.
- Go down and click on the option for “Storage” or “Storage & memory,” according to your device.
- Choose an option such as “Cached data” or “Cache.” Tap on it.
- A prompt will come up asking whether you want to clear the cached data. Please Confirm by clicking on OK or clear.
This procedure will delete the temporary files that are kept in cache to enhance your device’s performance.
How to Clear Cache on iPad?
To clear cache on an iPad:
- Go to the “Settings” app on your iPad.
- Then scroll down and click on “Safari” (or the browser that you use)
- Go down once again and select the “Clear History and Website Data” option.
- Once you select it you will be prompted to confirm. Select “Clear History and Data.”
Cookies and browsing history in the safari browser will be cleared by this.
Clear Cache on Web Browsers:
The process of clearing cache on mobile devices is relatively uncomplicated. Follow the subsequent steps:
How to Clear Cache on Microsoft Edge?
Follow the steps below to clear cache on Microsoft Edge:
- Open the Microsoft Edge browser on your device
- Click on the three horizontal dots located in right upper corner to open menu.
- Select “Settings” from the menu.
- Locate the “Privacy, search and services” link on the left sidebar.
- In the “Clear browsing data” section, click on ‘Choose what to clear’.
- Tick the box for “Cached images and files”.
- You can also clear other data types if necessary.
- Click on the “Clear” button.
This will clear cache in Microsoft Edge to improve browser performance as well as address problems resulting from cached data.
How to Clear Cache on Mozilla Firefox?
To clear the cache in Mozilla Firefox:
- Launch the Firefox browser on your device.
- The menu can be opened by clicking the three horizontal lines in the upper-right corner.
- On windows Choose “Options” and for macOS choose “Preferences”.
- Select “Privacy & Security” from the left sidebar.
- Move down to the Cookie and Site Data section.
- Press the ‘Clear Data’ button.
- The box next to “Cached Web Content” should be selected.
- Click “Clear” to confirm.
This procedure will remove the cached web content will be removed from Firefox through this procedure which will help boost performance and along with fixing bugs related to stored data.
How to Clear Cache in the Opera browser?
To clear the cache in the Opera browser:
- Launch the Opera browser on your device.
- To open the menu, click on the Opera icon in the top left of the window.
- Move over to “History” in the menu where a submenu will appear.
- Click on “Show full history”.
- On the History tab, click on ‘Clear browsing data’ located on the left side.
- On the drop-down menu, choose a time period or select “from the beginning of times” to clear out all data.
- Select “Cached images and files”.
- Click the “Clear browsing data” button.
This will delete the cached images and files from Opera, assisting to enhance performance fix problems connected with saved data.
How to Clear Cache on Safari on iOS?
To clear the cache on Safari on iOS (iPad or iPhone):
- Open the “Settings” app.
- Scroll down and click on Safari.
- Scroll down again and click on “Clear History and Website Data.”
- You can confirm the selection by tapping “Clear History and Data.”
The cache and browsing history in Safari will be cleaned by this, which can greatly enhance performance by resolving problems associated with cached data.
How to Clear Cache in Google Chrome?
To clear the cache in Google Chrome:
- Launch the Google Chrome browser on your computer.
- The menu can be accessed by clicking the three dots in the top right corner.
- Hover over ‘More tools’ in the menu.
- Click on “Clear browsing data.”
- A date from the drop-down menu in the “Clear browsing data” window has to be selected or choose ‘all time’ to clear all data.
- It is necessary that the check box for “Cached images and files” is selected.
- You can also choose other kinds of data to erase if it is necessary.
- Press the “Clear data” button to proceed.
This will remove cached images and files in Chrome, thus improving the website’s performance.
Conclusion:
Clearing cache is one of the most common processes that help improve performance for a certain device and is also needed when using different browsers. The frequent clearing of cache can help resolve problems with stored data and enhance the system’s general speed.
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