The cache stores copies of pages, images and scripts so sites load faster on your next visit. Clearing it fixes stale pages and broken layouts, and reclaims a surprising amount of disk space.
Chrome
Ctrl + Shift + Delete opens the clearing dialog. Choose a time range, tick Cached images and files, and leave Passwords alone. Clearing Cookies here also signs you out of every site.
Microsoft Edge
Same shortcut, same idea. Edge additionally offers to clear on every exit, in Settings under Privacy, search, and services — worth switching on for a shared PC.
Firefox
Settings, Privacy & Security, Cookies and Site Data, then Clear Data. Ticking cached web content while leaving cookies checked out keeps you logged in.
Brave, Opera and other Chromium browsers
They inherit the Chrome dialog almost exactly, so Ctrl + Shift + Delete works there too.
All browsers in one pass
If your household has three browsers installed and only one gets used, the other two are still holding old data. BleachBit lists every browser it finds and clears them in a single run — check the cache entries, preview, delete. The routine is in the walkthrough.
What clearing does and does not do
- Does free disk space and force fresh copies of pages,
- Does remove local traces of what you loaded,
- Does not hide activity from your employer, ISP, or the sites themselves,
- Does not remove sync data already uploaded to your Google or Microsoft account.
For the privacy side of that distinction, read the privacy cleanup guide.