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How often does Internet browser refresh data of a cached page?

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Be it Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera or Safari,do they download again every bit of data from the web server when the page is reloaded say after the browser is closed and restarted or the computer shut down and restarted or do they check and download only the difference?

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A lot depends on your options settings and your ISP

In reply to How often does Internet browser refresh data of a cached page?

In the Options settings of your browser, whatever it be, there is a setting where you can choose to have it download every time or not, it’s related to the cache settings as most browsers will just draw it again from the cache unless the cache is empty or it’s been a long time since being refreshed. You can also do a forced refresh by hitting the F5 button to refresh that page from the Internet.

Now that you’re looking beyond your system, many ISPs save themselves some money by having a server where they keep cached files of web pages frequently used b y their clients for a time period. It’s possible that when you ask for a new download you may get that cached page.

If you’re having trouble with page and think it’s an old copy it’s often best to go into your browser options and empty the cache first – this is known as clearing the cache. Then it has no option but to get a new copy from the Internet.

BTW questions like this should be over in the Q & A area, not the discussion section. Minus one for wrong location.

Do they always reload from the caches by default?

In reply to How often does Internet browser refresh data of a cached page?

Often I am not too sure which way I should go, Q&A or discussion. I wonder if the administrator could move it to Q&A for me or whether I should start another one as Q&A.

Can I say, by default all Internet browsers get the pages including embedded video and embedded music from the local cache (local computer) first then the ISP cache. I have supposed all Internet browsers have some mechanisms to compare what are in the caches before they go to the web servers in order to minimize traffic.

When we hit “F5”, do they reload from the ISP cache or the web server where the pages reside?

The default settings is to reload from cache, most browsers will

In reply to Do they always reload from the caches by default?

reload from the Internet after about 12 hours, but that behaviour can be changed in the settings.

F5 is a command to ignore the cache and reload from outside, but how far outside it goes will depend on if the page is cached by the ISP of not, as they do NOT cache all the pages, just the most commonly used by their clients in the last few days or so.

If you want more people answering you have to ask the question over in Q&A.

This is more the discussions on the blogs, articles, or general stuff is at the Water Cooler – all requests for information should be in the Q&A.

Thank you!

In reply to The default settings is to reload from cache, most browsers will

I thank you for your input regardless. Good day!

you’re welcome -no text

In reply to Thank you!

nt

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