Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes

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Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes

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Recommended Book

Recommended Book 

Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes

Learn More Buy

Understanding Caching

A cache is a storage area for often used information. The idea of a cache is that, by storing the data you use often in a convenient place, it takes less time for your computer to retrieve that information when you need it.

It works like this: When you use IE5, pages that you visit are cached and stored in the C:\Documents and Settings\your name\local settings\Temporary Internet Files folder. Then, when you use the back and forward buttons on the toolbar, the pages you previously visited load more quickly. This is especially noticeable with a page that contains a lot of graphics. When you re-visit a Web page with lots of graphics, you won't have to wait for all of the graphics to load again. Instead, IE5 finds the graphics files stored in your Internet Temporary Files folder and simply loads them from there, without attempting to download the graphics from the Internet.

Caching also enables you to view pages offline when you are not connected to the Internet. You simply view the pages stored on your hard disk. When working offline, you can tell if a page is available by moving the mouse pointer over its link. If the link changes to a hand with a "do not" symbol (a red circle with a diagonal slash), the associated page is not available on your system. If you click the link, Internet Explorer will attempt to connect you to the Internet, so it can retrieve the page you want.

There are limits to the size of the cache, however. And when the cache becomes full, the oldest data in the cache is replaced by newer data. IE5 has settings with which you can determine how much of your total hard drive space should be allocated for storing temporary, or cached, files. To see these settings, choose Tools, Internet Options, click the General tab, and choose Settings.

Also, be aware that caching can be a problem when you are visiting sites that use real-time images. Real-time means that the images are changing constantly and frequently, to give you the most current image. If you have a stored image in your cache directory, you'll be viewing an out-of-date image. To see the most current information and override what is cached, click the Refresh button on the toolbar. In fact, you can click the Refresh button any time you suspect that you are seeing a cached version of a page, and not a currently downloaded one. For example, if you visit a weather forecast page with a graphic image of the current Doppler radar, and you visit that page again on a later date, you'll undoubtedly view the original graphic unless you refresh.

In this lesson, you learned how to start and navigate IE5, how to enter URLs, and how IE5 uses caching. You also visited some Web sites and learned about various types of links. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to search the Internet.