Having trouble downloading files? Does your Internet connection drag its feet when you'd prefer to have it sprint? Clearing your "cache" can help!

Your browser uses the cache to save information from one session to the next. In theory, it speeds up returning to web sites that you visit frequently. If you visit numerous sites, however, all that stockpiled data ends up slowing down your connection. You can speed things up by clearing your cache from your Firefox browser as follows:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu (as shown at right).
2. Click on Advanced, then open the Network tab (as shown below).
3. In the section labeled Cached Web Content, click on the button labeled Clear Now.
4. To reduce the amount of content that is automatically cached, change the default setting (usually 1024 MB) to 50MB.
5. Save your changes by clicking on OK.
6. Refresh your page (right click and choose Reload or click on the F5 key on your keyboard). You may need to close Firefox and reopen it to maximize the benefit of clearing your cache.

View instructions for clearing the cache in other browsers.