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.

IE's 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.