Browser Problems: Clearing Cache, Cookies, & History

   Sometimes our browser behaves oddly, gives strange errors, doesn't refresh correctly, runs slow, among several other symptoms that don't really feed a good experience.

   Clearing a browser's cache, cookies, and history is very close to rebooting a computer, but it applies to a browser instead like Chome, Edge, Firefox, et al.

   Heads Up: Cookies save unique data specific to a website, and often contain logged-in sessions. For example: You log into Outlook's Web App for your email, go home at the end of the day and return the following day and access OWA again without having to login.

    That seamless experience, are thanks to cookies. All of that is to say: if you delete cookies, website customizations such as approved logged-in sessions will now no longer be customized/logged in. You'll have to login to sites again, because deleting cookies deletes that session.

Here's how to perform these actions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox:

Chrome:

    Chrome and Edge are built on the same Chromium browser engine, so they'll "look and feel" similar on these.

1. On the top-right of Chrome, click the 3 vertical dots (or, simply press CTRL+H on the keyboard)
2. Expand History
3. Click History within the expanded menu
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4. In the History screen that displays, click Delete browsing data
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5. In the next screen, click the Advanced Tab
6. In the Time Range field, select All Time
7. Ensure ONLY the following are checked: Browsing history, Download history, Cookies and other site data, Cached images and files, Site settings, and Hosted app data
8. Click Delete data
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9. Go to the page you were working with, trying again and logging in again if challenged.
10. Done!

Edge:

   Reminder: Chrome and Edge are built on the same Chromium browser engine, so they'll "look and feel" similar on these. 

1. On the top-right of Edge, click the 3 horizontal dots (or, simply press CTRL+H on the keyboard)
2. Click History
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3. In the History screen that displays, click the Trash Can
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4. In the next screen, select All Time
5. Ensure ONLY the following are checked: Browsing history, Download history, Cookies and other site data, Cached images and files, Site settings, and All data from the previous version of Microsoft Edge
6. Click Clear now
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7. Go to the page you were working with, trying again and logging in again if challenged.
8. Done!

Firefox:

   Firefox uses the Gecko engine instead of Chromium, so it'll look and feel different. 

1. On the top-right of Firefox, click the 3 horizontal bars (aka the "hamburger" (or, simply press CTRL+H on the keyboard)
2. Click History to expand its menu
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3. In the History menu, click Clear recent history...
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4. Next to When, select Everything
5. Ensure ONLY the following are checked: History, Cookies and site data, Temporary cached files and pages, and  Site settings
6. Click Clear
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7. Go to the page you were working with, trying again and logging in again if challenged.
8. Done!

   After clearing your browser's data and attempting your task again should win success, as you've essentially brought the browser nearly back to its basics, forcing it to redownload fresh and new data to rebuild its cache and cookies.