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clearing cache

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I read instructions on clearing cookies and cache. Question, If I check the box to clear the cache, which your instructions said will require websites to reload images and data, will I lose all my photographs that are on several websites such as twitter and pinterest?

I read instructions on clearing cookies and cache. Question, If I check the box to clear the cache, which your instructions said will require websites to reload images and data, will I lose all my photographs that are on several websites such as twitter and pinterest?

Chosen solution

Caches are a way to store data locally on your computer.
When data like JavaScript files and CSS files and images is in the disk cache then Firefox doesn't need to load these files from the server each time you visit that web page.
When you clear the disk cache then this only affects data stored on your computer and data on the web server is not affected.
Actually Firefox will reload the files from the server if you revisit the web page.
Sometimes data in the disk cache gets corrupted or files are outdated (i.e. there is a newer file on the web server) and in such a case you need to clear the disk cache or possibly load the page and bypass the cache (control F5 or Ctrl+Shift+R).
So normally the only effect of clearing the disk cache is that it can take slightly longer to load pages to rebuild the disk cache.

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Chosen Solution

Caches are a way to store data locally on your computer.
When data like JavaScript files and CSS files and images is in the disk cache then Firefox doesn't need to load these files from the server each time you visit that web page.
When you clear the disk cache then this only affects data stored on your computer and data on the web server is not affected.
Actually Firefox will reload the files from the server if you revisit the web page.
Sometimes data in the disk cache gets corrupted or files are outdated (i.e. there is a newer file on the web server) and in such a case you need to clear the disk cache or possibly load the page and bypass the cache (control F5 or Ctrl+Shift+R).
So normally the only effect of clearing the disk cache is that it can take slightly longer to load pages to rebuild the disk cache.

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USELESS, absolutely useless

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What is useless? The chosen solution is correct as far as I can tell, but if there is a problem with it please tell us what it is so it can be addressed.

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what is USELESS is that when we query firefox about clearing cache, this is all we get. does "control F5 or Ctrl+Shift+R" work on both macos, windoze AND linux?

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Hi bgeorgeday

On Windows and Linux you can use "control F5" or "Ctrl+Shift+R" to bypass the cache. On Mac you need to use "Command+Shift+R" to bypass the cache.