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Do you use Internet Explorer? Does you Internet seem slow? Does Internet Explorer seem to crash all the time? Although there can be many reasons for both these issues, I’m going to show you how to do some basic maintenance that will help keep things running smoothly on your computer.

Every time you visit a website using Internet Explorer, a part of that website is stored on your computer. These parts are sometimes saved in the form of a temporary file like a photo or graphic, sometimes as a cookie. It is saved so that when you return to the page that has that photo or graphic your computer can use the temporary file it has stored instead of downloading a whole new copy. In theory this is suppose to make webpages load faster. But in practice, not so much. In time your computer can get clogged up with to many temporary files. Whenever you visit a webpage you’ve never been to before your computer will check every temporary file and cookie it has stored before downloading the whole webpage. This will make your Internet seem slower and can even cause issues with Internet Explorer.

Luckily there is an easy way to clear your temporary files and cookies. First click on the Start button on the bottom left corner of your screen or the Windows circle if you are using Windows Vista. Then go to Control Panel.

A box that looks like this should pop up:

If you are running Windows Vista, and the Control Panel doesn’t look like the image above then click on Classic View on the top left corner of the Control Panel window.

Now that we are into the Control Panel, next we want to click on Internet Options. This will open a window that looks like this:

Many people think that if you simply click on Delete under Browsing History that all your temporary files and cookies will be gone but that is not always the case. We’re going to do a more thorough removal than that. We are going to click on Settings under Browsing History. It’s right here, circled in red:

This is going to open a third little window. It looks like this:

Ok, now let’s click on View Files. This will open yet another window that will contain all your temporary files and cookies. At the top of this window click on Edit and then click on Select All. You can also Select all by Holding down the Ctrl button and hitting the letter A if you prefer. You’ll know you’ve selected all the files because they will be highlighted. Then simply hit the Delete key on your keyboard.

You will get a warning box asking if you are sure you want to delete your cookies. Click on yes and they should all disappear. If you have never done this before and you use Internet Explorer, often this may take some time. I’ve seen some instances where the removal of temporary files and cookies has taken 20 or more minutes.

In some instances I have also seen Windows Explorer crash while trying to delete the files. If this happens turn your computer off, wait 15 seconds then turn it back on and repeat the steps in this tutorial.

This exercise will help keep your computer running in good order and should be done every few months.