What are temporary internet files?
Temporary internet files are copies of all the web pages, pictures and other files you look at in your browser which are then stored on your hard disk.
They're there to save you from having to download a web page everytime you go back to it.
So, if you click the 'Back' button page now the page will come pretty speedily from your disk rather than have to be downloaded from the WebWise server in London.
Up-to-date
Temporary internet files help speed up your surfing of the web but there are times when you don't want your browser to use them.
Let's say you visited an online news site, you wouldn't want to see copies of the pages you read the last time you were there - a couple of weeks ago.
Your browser takes care of that for you by checking whether the website has updated since you last visited, and if it has it goes and gets the latest version.
Managing files
Your browser has option screens to help you manage your temporary internet files.
But, just to make things a little tricky, the different browser companies call these files different things.
Microsoft calls them 'temporary internet files' while Netscape and Mozilla call them your 'cache'. Look in your browser help section if you get stuck trying to find the screens to manage them.
Once you're there you'll be able to delete your temporary internet files as well as limit the amount of hard disk space the browser can use to store them - about 10 - 20% of the total should be about right.
So, if your hard disk is starting to get inexplicably full, check your temporary internet files' folder to make sure your browser's not the culprit.
Privacy
If someone wants to see where you have been online, they could have a nose around by looking at your temporary internet files.
To stop them doing this you can delete your temporary internet files when you have finished browsing but don't forget that your browser will start creating them again as soon as you start browsing the web.
Your browser may also not make it very easy to delete the cookies in your temporary internet files folder - so make sure they're gone as well.
You can download privacy software to help with this which will regularly delete these files - see our article on Spyware for more.