Browser Cache

So I recently downloaded Firefox 3 and was adjusting its settings to be more what I liked, and came across the browser cache. It occured to me that I had no idea what Opera's browser cache was, so I checked. Here's what I got:

Firefox: 50 MB default
Opera: 20 MB default
Internet Explorer: 4769 MB default

Now that's quite a difference, especially with IE. One could conclude that the slower a browser is, the larger it sets its default cache in an attempt to make up for it - hence IE's cache being 90 times as large as Firefox's. But what I really wanted to know is:

*Do all browsers one has installed use the same browser cache, or a different one? Only IE tells me where its cache actually is (C:\Documents and Settings\[my name]\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files). If they all use one cache, IE isn't getting nearly the DVD's worth of space it thinks it is.

*Any recommendations on size? Opera's fast enough I don't feel as though I need to increase the cache - though being even faster couldn't be bad. IE's cache might get reduced slightly, especially with less free hard drive space than its maximum cache. But if they all use the same cache, I might as well set them all to the same size.

And for IE, 4769 MB is on the low end of the cache settings...blimely. It'll let me set up to 32000 MB if I want to...not sure how that large of a cache will speed it up though.

 

enter about:cache in firefox....
or the cache files are stored under \Documents and Settings\\Application Data \Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\\Cache
Check out this site....it has got some info regarding firefox cache....

it is fine if you store the Opera cache on another drive and keep it defragmented....to change:

1. Go to Help -> About Opera and find the location of your opera6.ini file.
2. Close Opera.
3. Open opera6.ini in a text editor.
4. Under [User Prefs], add the entry "Cache Directory4=" and enter the path.

Example:

[User Prefs]
Cache Directory4=H:\Cache
For more customizations in Opera : http://www.opera.com/support/service/customization/

 

Each browser uses its own browser cache.

For Firefox, you can type in about:cache into your address bar or go directly to its cache folder in your application data:

C:\Documents and Settings\XXX\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXX.default

Something like that.

Some info on Opera:

http://www.opera.com/support/usingopera/operaini/

Bigger cache = longer startup, btw.

IMO, by default, IE's cache size is ridiculously large. As you have noted, both Opera and Firefox use a fairly small size, while the odd one is IE. It's pretty easy to determine who has the right idea.

I use Fx and have it so it clears my cache (not cookies) everytime I close it. That way, next time I startup the program, I'm ensured that the webpages that I view will be completely up to date.

 

OK, thanks. That answers my questions. For future reference, I just found that in Opera (at least 9.27 and 9.50) you can type opera:config in the address bar to change settings as well. And I think I'll be drastically reducing IE's cache size.

 

I need to try Opera, does it lags like FF and IE?

 

I agree with the IE's cache size is ridiculously large. This seems to be a bug/problem only within IE6 though, they fixed this with IE7 and the default(Automatic) cache size is much smaller now.

I also clear my FF cache every time it closes. You can also do this with IE, go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced, there is a checkbox to clear the cache every time IE exits.

 

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by lags...Opera is very fast in general, especially 9.50. It feels faster than Firefox to me...it loads most pages quicker (I haven't seen a case where it's slower, but there probably is a page that is faster in Firefox somwhere - every browser except IE claims to be the fastest). Some, like BBC, load slowly no matter what browser you use. From the cache it loads instantly. Otherwise it's as fast as any browser I've seen for loading pages, and the first time I ever ran it a friend who was there decided to go download it after he went home he was so impressed with the speed. Stuff like switching and closing tabs also is instant, and Opera starts up pretty quickly (maybe marginally slower than Firefox). So...I'm pretty sure it doesn't lag, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean.

9.2 occasionally froze up with YouTube, but that got fixed around 9.25. It may also have been due to some auxiliary setting on my old desktop.

I do have IE6; for some reason IE7's back button doesn't work the way it's supposed to for me. But I really only use IE for sites that require IE - i.e., not enough IE to care about its settings too much.

 

IE6 is fine, I still use it in one of my machines, just adjust the cache size manually to 50 MB or something. Back then when IE7 wasn't out yet, I always adjust the cache size manually in all IE6. The problem with IE6 is that the default cache size is adjusted according to your HDD size, if you have a very large system partition, then your default cache size will become very big, which is kinda like a bug.

 

It is largely not relevant to me as:

1. I have sufficient disk space and memory to support a large cache
2. I set my browser to clear cache at exit

 

2nd AKAJohnDoe, adding:
. browsers set their own cache size, in order to work correctly the way devs see it
. "tweaking" cache about to save some ridiculous numbers of bytes is a waste of user resources

my caches: FF3&Minefield at 76mb, Opera 9.5xxxxx at 50MB, Safari 3.1.2 at 60MB, IE8 set it down to 60MB for testing

and as with AKA, the caches got zapped when i close the browsers - except that the current 9.5x snapshot 10080 (aka 5.1RC2) is having issue with deleting the cache (i currently have to manually delete the file myself, oh well RC3 is out in 2 days))

cheers ...

 

This is correct for FF, IE7, and Opera. But have you used IE6 before? I've seen IE6 configured 10 GB of cache by default. It just doesn't make sense. Tweaking cache size for IE6 is definitely not a waste of user resources.

 

I tweak IE by denying it internet access in my firewall