Emptying Cache?

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 14 Sep 2017 4:29 am

My Windows 10 laptop is very slow navigating.
Opening the web thru Google, I can let it sit for 10 minutes and it's just OK; otherwise, getting to Gmail or the Forum takes reloading pages with patience. If both are up, the little blue circles on the tabs spin and spin, but in time it will navigate swiftly.
"Waiting for cache..." comes up frequently in a prompt, and I'm wondering if that needs to be emptied (or something).

Any thoughts? or should I take it to Bubba for a good cleaning?
And what's the cache?

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 14 Sep 2017 4:41 am

Charlie:

Have you been using any particular maintenance routine for this machine?

Have you ever run the likes of CCleaner or Windows built-in "Disk Cleanup" on it?

Or anything at all---antivirus scans, etc?

Is this slowness a quite recent development?

Is it an antique or does it have a modern CPU and a reasonable amount of RAM?

Any issues unrelated to the browser or using the Internet?

You can certainly blow out all the browser history and cache. Whether that would help is another question.

What browser do you use?

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 14 Sep 2017 5:04 am

Mitch, it's a newer Sony with plenty of processor and Ram. It's a relatively new complaint. I've reloaded Chrome to no avail.

I run SUPERAnti Spyware and AVG anti-virus occasionally, but not CCleaner or Disc Cleanup (altho I'll try and find it now).

I'd like to blow out the cache but don't know where to find it. (A Google search revealed several kinds of cache, but no remedies.)

Normal operation off-line is fine.
----------------
I've performed disk cleanup and am working on cache.
Thanks for your suggestions.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 14 Sep 2017 5:21 am

Charlie:

I know nothing about Chrome.

Below is a link that allegedly tells you how to clear the cache in Chrome.

https://www.technipages.com/google-chrome-clear-cache

I'd run Windows Disk Cleanup frequently enough that it becomes a habit. There's an option in there to include system files. Say yes to that.

CCleaner with it's default settings is also excellent.

Remains to be seen if any of this will help.

You could have some oddball issue--even hardware.

But try the standard stuff first.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 14 Sep 2017 5:27 am

Thank you again. Your link will solve my question, and perhaps tomorrow will tell the tale.
My computer use is pretty much email and forum (and Wiki, Utube, dictionaries occasionally).

With disk cleanup, are there items not to clean?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 14 Sep 2017 5:33 am

I would let the Recycle Bin alone. Never know when you want something that you accidentally deleted.

I know nothing about Chrome, too. Don't have it and will never install it again. I did one time and it caused a lot of dropout problems with my recording studio program and DPC Latency problems (as reported by Resplendence Latency Mon program). It was a nightmare to get all the Google out of the registry.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 14 Sep 2017 5:34 am

Charlie McDonald wrote:
With disk cleanup, are there items not to clean?

"Recycle bin" is the only thing in the list that I DON'T have checked. I like to manage my recycle bin by hand.

I'm not sure what the default checkmarks are.

I've never have any problem with Disk Cleanup----at times it will seemingly NOT remove stuff even when you've told it to do so. You say "get rid of this 10 MB of stuff" and rerun it and the same 10 MB of stuff still shows as removable.

I run CCleaner semi-religiously/obsessively---Disk Cleanup less often---perhaps twice a month.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 14 Sep 2017 5:39 am

I see Mitch and I agree on not touching the Recycle Bin.

I too use Ccleaner and delete browser cache's but have the cookies I want to keep identified in Ccleaner.

I primarily use Edge but also use Firefox Browsers

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 14 Sep 2017 5:42 am

I did leave the recycle bin. Perhaps use of the CCleaner is needed, keeping the cookies.

Thank you for your assistance, gentlemen.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 14 Sep 2017 5:48 am

Ccleaner has an option to keep the cookies you want.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 14 Sep 2017 5:59 am

Here is the instructions on using Win 10 Disc clean up from the www.tenforums.com (Windows 10 Forum).

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/301 ... -10-a.html

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 14 Sep 2017 6:00 am

The culprit in maladies like this can be nebulous and so elusive that it's almost impossible to diagnose easily. It will probably take some perseverance and poking around to get things running right again.

From the description, it does sound like something browser-related. Like others here, I've never been impressed favorably with Chrome. Whenever I stray off the reservation and decide to try a new browser, I always return to Firefox as my go-to browser. It's not perfect, but nothing is, and with a few of the add-ons (extensions) available for it, such as Adblock Plus, Flash Block (to keep all the millennial-targeted videos from autostarting at once), YesScript (javascript blacklist), and Blur (VERY nice; Google it), it just works.

Faced with this issue myself, I'd first try uninstalling the affected browser and all it's parts, including registry entries, anything in the Program Data and AppData (Local and Roaming) folders, and running jv16 Power Tools to check for registry errors. Restart, and see if things have improved.

For Firefox, I know how to save and restore things like previous bookmarks, saved passwords, etc. For other browsers, I don't. And, as always, when doing anything that might go wrong and break something, I'd use Macrium Reflect to image the drive prior to doing all of the above.

As a postscript, since it's been mentioned now, I've always kept my Recycle Bins empty - in the unlikely event I ever need to restore something I deleted, I can easily retrieve it from the frequent drive images I keep.

I seriously doubt that would have anything to do with this issue, but letting everything pile up there and take up disk space has never appealed to me. Cookies? Meh, I'd doubt they'd cause this kind of thing to happen either - if they get deleted as part of a complete browser uninstall, it wouldn't be the end of the world. You'd just need to re-enter usernames/passwords, etc one time, for stuff stored there.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 14 Sep 2017 2:21 pm

I run CCleaner before shutting down my PC and Dell laptop. It is a learned habit. Here are my more important settings...

Start with Windows
Add "Run CCleaner" to Recycle Bin context menu (right click options)
Automatic Updates and normal file deletion
Windows options:
Microsoft Edge: Cache, Cookies, Download History, Last Download Location,
Under Applications:
Firefox and Chrome: Internet Cache, Cookies, Last Download Location, Compact Databases
Windows Store: everything
Under the sub-category Applications, I uncheck Notepad++
Internet: I uncheck MailWasher Pro
Multimedia: everything
Utilities: I uncheck Acronis True Image and Malwarebytes
Sub-category Windows: I uncheck Game Explorer
I do have two custom location rules that delete executables from the following loctions:
C:\ProgramData\*.exe;*.bat
C:\Users\(My account name)\AppData\Roaming\*.exe;*.bat

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 15 Sep 2017 3:59 am

Thanks for the complete list, Wiz. I grasp cache a little better, whether it was involved or not.

I did housecleaning yesterday--today I turned the puter on, brought up Chrome and let it sit while I coffee'd, and it's clicking right along. Any results were unscientifically reached, so I'll just continue with new habits.

Appreciate the help everyone. Is this forum great?

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 15 Sep 2017 5:37 am

Charlie:

Keep your eyes peeled for unexplained and unexpected weirdness, now that you are using CCleaner.

Not damaging or permanent, but unusual in your personal experience.

Why?

The choices (checkmarks) you make within it's configuration will cause certain things to happen, some of which may be surprising.

All depending on how you use the machine and your personal habits.

For instance:

I regularly use Word and Excel, part of Office 2010.

There are maybe 30 files that I repeatedly open and modify--many of them daily.

I find and access those files by opening Word or Excel and then going to the file/recent menu to see a list of my most recently opened files. I then poke the one I want from the shown list.

Very handy.

HOWEVER, if I leave a checkmark next to "Office 2010" within the CCleaner applications section, that handy list will be deleted every time I run CCleaner.

So I then have to fumble around, remember the file name, and find it by some other means.

Not so handy.

If you have oddball stuff like that occur, it may be because your settings in CCleaner are not what they should be---for your particular use case.

You'd then root through the CCleaner settings and try to figger out which of those checkmarks might be the culprit--it's not always intuitive.

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 8 Oct 2017 3:15 am

Ads and trackers slow down computers.

Try Malwarebytes.

Also try BRAVE browser as it blocks ads and trackers, see if it works for you.

Firefox has gone astray and will be tracking more personal data than it started out with.

Chrome is Google and google is all about censorship and control.

Some have resorted to using Yandex from Russia to get away from google.