Purging your cache

Pronounced cash, it's a special high-speed storage mechanism. It can be either a reserved section of main memory or an independent high-speed storage device. Two types of caching are commonly used in personal computers: memory caching and disk caching.

A memory cache, sometimes called a cache store or RAM cache, is a portion of memory made of high-speed static RAM (SRAM) instead of the slower and cheaper dynamic RAM (DRAM) used for main memory. Memory caching is effective because most programs access the same data or instructions over and over. By keeping as much of this information as possible in SRAM, the computer avoids accessing the slower DRAM.

Disk caching works under the same principle as memory caching, but instead of using high-speed SRAM, a disk cache uses conventional main memory. The most recently accessed data from the disk (as well as adjacent sectors) is stored in a memory buffer. When a program needs to access data from the disk, it first checks the disk cache to see if the data is there. Disk caching can dramatically improve the performance of applications, because accessing a byte of data in RAM can be thousands of times faster than accessing a byte on a hard disk.

Purging your cache on a regular basis is a good idea. You should also set the maximum disk space to use for cache to no more than 10% of your hard drive. Purging cache is different for every browser. If you're using Internet Explorer, click on Tools, then on Internet Options. In the General tab, there is a section called Temporary Internet Files. Click on Delete Cookies. Next click on Delete Files. Another window should appear giving you the option to delete offline content. Check that box and click OK. Don't forget....these are all temporary files and deleting them will not affect any of your programs. It simply 'frees up' space on your disk. You can set your cache size on the same screen by clicking on the 'settings' box. Make sure it is no more than 10% of your hard drive size.