Temporary Internet Files and Cookies

Temporary Internet Files

What are they?
This folder holds content from visited web pages and it is stored on your hard drive, they are the cache of Internet Explorer. These stored files allow Internet Explorer to quickly access pages recently visited, or, they speed up web browsing.

How to View and Delete
Start Internet Explorer and click the Tools Menu. Choose Internet Options from the list. Click the General tab at the top. In the middle of the option box are these buttons: Delete Files will delete all temporary internet files (check the option to delete offline content as well), the Settings button will open a second window with three more buttons. To view the temporary files before deleting, click the View Files Button, from this window you can review the web sites that have been visited and then delete by choosing the Edit Menu, Select All, and press delete on your keyboard. Depending on how full this folder is the time it takes to clear may vary.

Cookies

What are they?
Cookies on your computer are small text files dropped off by websites that contain a type of ID tag. This tag identifies you if you revisit the site frequently. You can delete them, but if you revisit the site you will get a new cookie.

How to Delete
Start Internet Explorer and click the Tools Menu. Choose Internet Options from the list. Click the General tab at the top. Click the Delete Cookies button, or if you want to view them they are stored in a folder on your Drive C. You can do a search to locate them as well.

If you use IE7, there is a single button to delete history, temporary files and cookies.