Technical Stuff

Refreshing downloads

If you suspect that a web page that you are viewing may not be current, it may be that you are viewing an earlier version stored in the "Temporary Internet Files" folder on your pc, rather than a freshly downloaded version. It is a normal function of your browser to do this to save page downloading unnecessarily.

To force an update of the current page, i.e.  download a potentially newer version, I used to hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys whilst clicking on the Refresh icon . According to the Help info on IE (v6 & v7), you can use key F5, or more forcibly Ctrl F5 perform the same function & requires fewer fingers!

See also, <Help>, <Search> "Refresh", <List Topics>, <Using Internet Explorer keyboard shortcuts>, <Display>.
There's some useful info. there, including the 'F5 one'!

Alternatively you could change the 'settings' in Temporary Internet Files. I use the default of 'Automatic' but you could change to 1 of 3 other options. I would suggest NOT "every time you visit the page" as it can be time consuming and very frustrating, particularly for dial-up users!

The browser cache

It is very easy to build up a significant number of such files in the Temporary Internet Files with quite a small amount of 'surfing' the Internet. These can easily accumulate to several megabytes (millions of characters) of file storage! To clear out this old 'stuff', click on the following Internet Explorer cmds in turn: -

<Tools> (on the menu bar), <Internet Options>, <Delete Files>, then <OK>. (You can also specify a maximum space allowance for these files in: 'Tools', 'Internet Options', using the <General> tab, click on Browser History 'Settings'). Alternatively you could limit the time that such files are retained using the same path (I set my limit to 21 days, which should be long enough).

You can also follow a similar process to remove all the 'Cookies'; files. These can be placed in your computer when you visit particular sites, to facilitate return visits (and other functions!).
Some are useful (i.e. ID's for quick access to bank accounts, etc.) and should be retained but others not; (N.B. with this tool "it's all or nothing") - "Your Choice"!
Otherwise try looking in
"C:/Documents and Settings/'computername'/Local Settings/Temporary Internet Files", then deleting only what you think that you can lose safely.

I'm a bit rusty on the details, as I don't have it installed on my pc any more, but I'm sure from memory that the Netscape browser had similar functions and facilities. Of AOL and other browsers, I have little or no experience.

Browsing History
Have you noticed that, if you use an internet link and later return to the same page, the colour of the text on the link has changed (from Blue to Chestnut). To reset these colours, click on the drop-down menu <Tools>, then select <Internet Options> and in the <General> Tab select <Delete> in the Browsing history, then click on <Delete History>.
N.B. This will also remove list of pages visited recently - see also the Browser Cache entry above!

Laurie

08/04/2008