Managing Cached Files

When you visit a Web page, the page and its graphics are stored, or cached, in the Temporary Internet Files folder on your hard disk. The folder size is limited by default to 50 MB; you can increase (up to 1 GB) or decrease (down to 8 MB) the folder size to control how often the folder is purged. If you do a lot of Web surfing, particularly of graphic-intensive sites, the folder can fill up relatively quickly; after it is full, older files are deleted when newer files are cached.

Tip

If you would prefer that Internet Explorer not cache any temporary files, select the Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder When Browser Is Closed check box on the Advanced tab of the Internet Properties dialog box.

In this exercise, you will view your temporary Internet files and associated settings. There are no practice files for this exercise.

BE SURE TO display Control Panel before beginning this exercise.

1.	In Control Panel, click Security, and then under Internet Options, click the Delete browsing history and cookies task. The Internet Properties dialog box opens, displaying the General tab.
2.	In the Browsing history area, click Settings. The Temporary Internet Files And History Settings dialog box opens. In this dialog box, you can specify how often Internet Explorer looks for updated versions of cached pages, and how much storage space is available for your temporary Internet files.
3.	Click View files. Your Temporary Internet Files folder opens, probably displaying a wide variety of cached files. [View full size image]
4.	Close the Temporary Internet Files window, and then click View objects. Your Downloaded Program Files folder opens. This folder might contain very few (or no) files, depending on your Internet browsing habits.
5.	Close the Downloaded Program Files window, and then click Cancel in the Temporary Internet Files and History Settings dialog box.

CLOSE the Internet Properties dialog box and the Security window.

Tip

You can clear the file cache by clicking Delete in the Browsing History area. Internet Explorer will recache any previously visited pages and cookies the next time you visit those sites. To delete only selected itemsfor example, to delete temporary files but retain cookiesdisplay the Temporary Internet Files folder, select the desired files, and then press Delete. You can sort files by file type to quickly locate specific groups of files.