There’s a tool in Google Chrome that you can use to fix many of the problems you encounter during a day, but often don’t realize the fix is in your hand. It’s called “Clear Browsing Data”.
Your tech team may have asked you to use it occasionally without explanation; and you also may have heard it’s a last resort measure. But it doesn’t always have to be last resort; and it could save you a lot of headaches.
In simple terms: the actual way your browser works compared to the way you think it works.
Let’s say you’re surfing the net or using a web-based app. It might seem that you’re looking at a page on a far-away computer; but you’re not. In reality, every time you look at a page, your browser is actually reading the page itself; then putting a copy of it on your local computer where it can present it to you as the creator desired it to look.
This copy is stored in a set of files on your local disk (or SSD or other local storage) in an area called browser cache. Yep; it got its name from pirates (not the Pittsburgh kind) who plundered the seas and hid their bootie in a secret spot so they can get it later — their “cache”.
Many times when you have difficulties reading a page, getting locked up with your browser or using an online app, it’s because of a problem in the cache.
Fixing your cache – easily and effectively
In most cases, you try lots of things to fix the situation — usually culminating in calling tech support or in worst cases, putting a hole in your wall with your fist. But clearing the cache often is what your tech support person has you do to resolve the issue. You don’t have to wait for permission from tech support with a few easy steps.
First try getting your page to reload all your data. Clicking the refresh or reload icon on Chrome just won’t do that. It refreshes some of the data, but often draws the refresh from what’s already in your cache; so instead of just clicking on your icon, hold down your SHIFT key while clicking the refresh icon. Called a hard refresh, this will ask for all the data to be reloaded from the original web server.
Sometimes hard refresh doesn’t work, in which case you can try action 2:
Using Incognito mode to grab new data.
(We’ll go into this type of tactic in more detail in our Become a Google Chrome All-Star workshop. For now, just the bare basic.)
To use this tactic, choose “File”, then “New Incognito Window” from your Google Chrome menu, which opens a new window for you. Load the page here. If it works, you should be able to close this page and go back to your old page — at which point a hard-refresh will work.
If neither of those work, try a more full clear of your cache, by clicking “Clear Browser Data” from your Chrome menu. This will bring up a page that gives you some choices. For now, let’s just put a check next to “Cached images and files” and leave the other options unchecked. Then click [Clear Data]
By this point, if the problem is with your cache, it should be cleared up. Not always; but in over 90% of the cases. We’ll help with more situations in our Confirmed ALL*STAR workshop, “Google Chrome – Tips & Secrets To Ease Your Days & Enhance Your Success“
— The Confirmed Thought Leadership Team
Last year, the average worker spent 400 minutes (6.6 hours) daily using their browsers with Google Chrome being the one used the most. Yet most have not yet really learned how to master the features of Chrome enough to make it a productivity tool; not just a browser.
So Confirmed has created “Google Chrome – Tips & Secrets To Ease Your Days & Enhance Your Success” a skills-enhancement / process-improvement series to help you unlock Chrome. It’s part of The Confirmed ALL*STAR series, a unique combination of online workshops and personal coaching sessions that you can take to learn the essentials or even become a Google Chrome All*Star. you can learn more about it and register for the Google Chrome session or get a series pass to all current topics here.