Why should I clear my cache and how do I do it?

You use a browser every day for many things such as checking your email, doing some banking, making purchases, checking social media, as well as using PhoneBurner.  Your browser holds onto information, and over time it could cause problems with logging into or bringing up websites. It’s always a good idea to clear out the cache and browser history,  on a regular basis. The drawback to this is that sometimes your saved usernames and passwords will be deleted and you’ll need to re-enter them. But on the plus side, your privacy is more secure and your browser will work better.

What are cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of data from a website that are stored in your browser while you’re on that website. Every time you pull up that same website, the browser sends the cookie back to the website with all the info from the previous visit.

Cookies can be helpful, storing your username or preferences for a particular website. Sometimes the cookies are used to track your visit to websites so that businesses can show you ads online. Browsers keep cookies until they expire, which could be when you log out of an account, or for years, as is the case for tracking cookies. Browser cache will sometimes store information about your browsing history until you clear it.

To get the most out of your PhoneBurner account, we recommend clearing the cache in your browser often. If you’re having a tough time logging in, try clearing your cookies. If your account isn’t loading correctly, you aren’t seeing what you expect, or there’s an error, try clearing the cache to make sure you’re seeing most up to date information.

Here are the major browsers and how to clear cache and delete cookies for them. It is  best practice to run the latest version of your favorite browser for your PhoneBurner Account and keeping it updated helps pages load better.

Chrome

Delete all your data (browser history)

1. Click the Chrome menu  on the browser toolbar (3 dots in upper right corner of browser) 

2. Select More Tools.
3. Select Clear browsing data.
4. In the dialog that appears, select the checkboxes for the types of information that you want to remove.
5. Use the menu at the top to select the amount of data that you want to delete. Select beginning of time to delete everything (recommended).

6. Click Clear browsing data.

Safari

How to clear the cache and cookies of Safari on versions 10.0.1 and above.

1. Click on Safari and then on Preferences. 

   

2. Select Privacy and then click Manage Website Data. 

   

3. Select Remove All and then in the small popup, selection Remove Now. 

   

4. Click Safari in the menu at the top of the screen and click Preferences.

   

5. In the Preferences window, click the Advanced tab and make sure the checkbox next to "Show Develop menu in menu bar" is selected.

   

6. Select Develop in the menu bar on the top of the screen and click Empty Caches.

   

Internet Explorer 11

1. Open Internet Explorer 11.

2. On the very right-hand side of the browser, click on the gear icon, also called the Tools icon, followed by Safety, and finally Delete browsing history....
   
   The Ctrl-Shift-Del keyboard shortcut works too. Just hold down both the Ctrl and Shift keys and then press the Del key.

   Note: If you have the Menu bar enabled, you can instead click Tools and then Delete browsing history...

3. In the Delete Browsing History window that appears, uncheck all options except the one labeled Temporary Internet files and website files. 

4. Click the Delete button at the bottom of the window.

5. The Delete Browsing History window will disappear and you might notice your mouse icon go busy for a few moments.

   As soon as your cursor returns to normal, or you notice the "finished deleting" message at the bottom of the screen, consider your temporary internet files deleted.

Older Internet Explorer versions, like IE10, IE9, and IE8, have similar procedures for clearing the cache.

Microsoft Edge

Use the following steps to clear your browser history and Cache in Microsoft Edge:

1. Click the Hub icon  .

2. Click the History icon  .

3. Click the link labeled Clear all history.

4. Check the boxes for each item you want to clear.

5. Click the Clear button. The message "All Clear!" will appear at the top when the data has been erased.

Firefox

Clear cache:
1. Open Mozilla Firefox .
2. Click the Menu button (the one with three horizontal lines) and then choose Options.
3. If Options is not listed in the menu, click Customize and drag Options from the list of Additional Tools and Features over to the Menu.
Note: If you're using the menu bar, choose Tools and then Options instead.

Firefox for Mac: On a Mac, choose Preferences from the Firefox menu and then continue as instructed below.

1. With the Options window now open, click the Privacy tab.
2. In the History area, click the clear your recent history link.
3. In the Clear Recent History window that appears, set the Time range to clear: to Everything.
4. In the list at the bottom of the window, uncheck everything except for Cache.
5. Note: If you wish to clear other kinds of stored data, feel free to check the appropriate boxes. They will be cleared with the cache in the next step.
6. Tip: Don't see anything to check? Click the button next to Details.
7. Click on the Clear Now button.
8. When the Clear Recent History window disappears, all of the files saved (cached) from your Internet browsing activities in Firefox will have been removed.

Older versions of Firefox, particularly Firefox 4 through Firefox 28, have fairly similar processes for clearing the cache.