Forthcoming Forum Upgrade, June 2017
There is a likelihood that post-upgrade, some elements of the Forum may not display properly. This will be due to the cached or stored content that browsers hold locally on your device to improve webpage loading.
In preparation for the forthcoming Forum software upgrade (likely to be Monday 12th June between 7.00 AM to 3.00PM), see post Forum Upgrade Notice, we have produced a simplified guide to help members clear their browser caches. Please note that this should be done after the Forum upgrade on Monday, not before, otherwise it will have no effect.
Why clear-refresh your Browser / Device cache?
Your browser generally stores certain items that have been downloaded or stored from web pages for future use. Photos, images, graphics, (such as icons and buttons) and sometimes complete webpages are examples of items which are saved or ‘cached’. When visiting a webpage your browser will check to see if a copy of the files on the page are held in the cache already. If so, it will save re-downloading the same content and therefore make the webpages load faster. Some browsers, especially on a desktop, refer to this cache as ‘temporary Internet files’.
There are some situations when you will need to bypass your browser’s cache. You may start to see partially loaded or badly formatted web pages, incomplete pictures, or, in some cases, the wrong picture in the wrong place. This can happen when the cache gets ‘confused’ or when there are significant changes to a web page / forum. It will happen to most browsers at some point and at random times.
If you were to simply click the ‘refresh’ button (or pressing ‘F5’ on a Windows desktop PC), this won't be sufficient because this simply reloads the webpage whilst still using the old stored content and files from the cache. You will need to empty the browser / device cache first, to force it to acquire the new webpage content again from the webpage server. This may take fractionally longer than normal to load whilst the new content is re-downloaded. This will help to eliminate web pages that are not displaying properly because of the newer content though.
For most Desktop-based browsers, with the browser open, holding down the Control Key (CTRL) and pressing the F5 key at the same time, will clear the cache and force the browser to fetch the new content.
For mobile device / tablet users here is some basic help to do this with the more common devices and browsers. It is beyond the scope of this article to provide instructions for every device, browser or operating system version - but the procedures are basically similar. It is not necessary to clear browsing history, favourites, bookmarks, saved passwords etc., only the option to clear the CACHE is required.
Android Devices
For Android 4.0 and earlier phones, for the built in browser called ‘Internet’
1. Tap MENU
2. SETTINGS
3. Scroll down to PRIVACY SETTINGS
4. From the next menu, Choose CLEAR CACHE
Google Chrome for Android:
1. Open the Chrome browser and tap the Menu button (⋮).
2. Tap ‘Settings’ in the menu that appears.
3. Tap ‘Privacy’ in the ‘Advanced’ section.
4. Scroll down and tap ‘Clear Browsing Data’.
5. Ensure that ‘Cache’, ‘Cookies’ & ‘site data’ are checked and then tap ‘Clear’.
iPhone
Safari
1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Safari
3. Tap Clear History and Website Data.
4. Tap Clear History and Data when prompted.
Firefox
1. Open Firefox and tap the ‘Hamburger’ menu (circled).
2. The Menu will open. If necessary, swipe left to open the second page of options until you can see ‘Settings’ shown:
3. Tap ‘Settings’
4. Scroll up until you find the ‘Clear Private Data’ option.
5. Tap ‘Clear Private Data’.
6. From the following menu, ensure ‘Cache’ is enabled as a minimum then tap the ‘Clear Private Data’ option and confirm if necessary.
Windows Phone:
1. Open the ‘Edge’ browser and tap the menu option circled below:
2. Tap ‘Settings’
3. Under ‘Clear Browsing Data’, tap ‘Choose what to clear’.
4. Ensure ‘Cached Data and Files’ is ticked. You can untick the other options.
Samsung:
For Samsung Galaxy Phones - Chrome Browser:
http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/skp/faq/1072777
For Samsung Phones - to clear the cache for the Whole Device:
http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/skp/faq/1107135
Note
For those who browse using ‘incognito’ or ‘private’ modes, the ‘history’ and ‘cache’ are usually disabled anyway. So you can visit any site through these modes to get fresh content every time. However if you are not sure, it is best to delete the cache as described in one of the methods above.
Forum Upgrade June 2017 - Cache Clearing
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Forum Upgrade June 2017 - Cache Clearing
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