Skip to main content

Why You Shouldn't Clear Your Cache

Barry the Innocent (name changed to protect) doesn't like to intentionally clear the cache in his computer. Why? Because ...
it puts a strain on the computer.


No Barry,

Clearing cache, intentionally, deletes files. It simply deletes the files now (because the content is dirty), rather than later (when the content is aged).

The only reason for having cache is to retain files, from each viewing of a given web site to the next viewing, and save on bandwidth use. Other than that, you could have cache flush constantly.

For folks with fat enough pipes, that would actually be the logical thing to do. Cache retention = "0 Days" gives no out of date (dirty) files, ever. Just pull them from the web server each time. Some people do this.

In short, clearing the cache does not put a strain on the computer. It will make your bandwidth jump slightly, as deleted files are refreshed. So will going to any new web site, as any new web site will always have new files for you.

If you doubt my statement here, get Process Explorer, and watch the metrics when you clear cache once. You'll have to clean your glasses before hand though (and don't blink either), if you expect to see anything interesting. The background activity level of the computer will exceed the foreground activity of cache clearing.

Please try this experiment, and see for yourself.

>> Top

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What's The URL Of My Blog?

We see the plea for help, periodically I need the URL of my blog, so I can give it to my friends. Help! Who's buried in Grant's Tomb, after all? No Chuck, be polite. OK, OK. The title of this blog is "The Real Blogger Status", and the title of this post is "What's The URL Of My Blog?".

Add A Custom Redirect, If You Change A Post URL

When you rename a blog, the most that you can do, to keep the old URL useful, is to setup a stub post , with a clickable link to the new URL. Yo! The blog is now at xxxxxxx.blogspot.com!! Blogger forbids gateway blogs, and similar blog to blog redirections . When you rename a post, you can setup a custom redirect - and automatically redirect your readers to the post, under its new URL. You should take advantage of this option, if you change a post URL.

Adding A Link To Your Blog Post

Occasionally, you see a very odd, cryptic complaint I just added a link in my blog, but the link vanished! No, it wasn't your imagination.