Whenever you visit a website on the internet, your internet browser will store bits of data called 'cache,' which is made up of assets and resources that make up a website. Cache is utilized for browsers to be resourceful on how they retrieve webpages. In the case that you re-visit a website, the browser will pre-load the website using the stored data from your previous visit. The browser will check which assets and resources need to be updated and fetch them from the web servers.
Utilizing cache this way reduces the amount of bandwidth needed to load a webpage. This makes website loading much faster since the browser is using stored data as opposed to re-downloading everything from the ground-up every time you visit a website. Think of cache as a blueprint for websites that can be reused to build them quickly.
Since browser cache is stored locally on your computer, it may sometimes get bloated in file size and use an excessive amount of hard drive space with data from websites you may never visit again. It is a good idea to occasionally clear your browser cache to maintain reasonable page load speeds.
Another reason why you may want to clear cache is that, although there are many great benefits to browser caching, it sometimes causes updates to web-based services such as Brainbase to not take effect within your browser. A simple solution to getting the most recent version of Brainbase along with any recent patches or updates would be to clear your cache and refresh the page.
