Troubleshooting
Clearing your browsing data fixes most "the website looks broken" problems: pages that won't load properly, logins that keep failing, or a site that still shows old content after it has been updated or moved to a new host.
Websites store two kinds of data on your computer:
- Cookies – small files that remember your logins, preferences and shopping carts.
- Cache – saved copies of images and pages so sites load faster next time. When a site changes (new images, new hosting, DNS changes) your browser can keep showing the old copy.
Clear browsing data in Chrome
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete (Mac: Cmd + Shift + Delete).
You can also click the ⋮ menu in the top-right corner and choose Delete browsing data. - Set Time range to All time.
- Tick these boxes:
- Browsing history
- Cookies and other site data
- Cached images and files
- Click More options (or Advanced on older versions of Chrome). You can also tick Download history, Site settings and Hosted app data.
- Click Delete data, then close and reopen Chrome.
Clearing cookies signs you out of most websites, so have your passwords handy.
Clear data for just one website
If only one site is misbehaving, you can clear just that site and stay signed in everywhere else.
- Go to the website.
- Click the site information icon to the left of the address in the address bar.
- Choose Cookies and site data → Manage on-device site data.
- Click the trash can next to each entry, then Done, and reload the page.
Website recently moved to a new host?
After a DNS change your computer can remember the old server address for a while. Clear Chrome's DNS cache and your computer's:
- In Chrome, go to
chrome://net-internals/#dnsand click Clear host cache. - On Windows, open Command Prompt and run:
On a Mac, open Terminal and run:ipconfig /flushdnssudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
Other browsers
| Browser | Shortcut | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Edge | Ctrl + Shift + Delete | ⋯ menu → Settings → Privacy, search, and services → Clear browsing data |
| Firefox | Ctrl + Shift + Delete | ☰ menu → History → Clear recent history |
| Safari (Mac) | — | Safari menu → Clear History (cookies: Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data) |
The same warning applies in every browser: leave passwords and autofill unticked.
