| Part 1-Your Private Data | Part 4a-Web Browser Cookies |
| Part 2-Web Browsing History | Part 4b-Managing Cookies |
| Part 3-Web Browser Cache | Part 5-Erasing Your Private Data |
Computers use caches to store temporary information. Someone who's moving into a new house may first distribute the large items (furniture, appliances) to their respective rooms. Then they may use the living area to cache all of the boxes and small items before or while distributing them to the other parts of the house.
A Web browser keeps items in its cache for later retrieval. When your Web browser loads a web page from the Internet, it will store graphics and other Web files to your hard drive. This helps speed up your Web browsing experience, because instead of downloading the files again (which takes more time), it can refer to the copies on your hard drive (which takes less time).
One problem with caching involves scripts that are loaded outside of the Web page (similar to Cross Site Scripting, or XSS). Such a script can tell the Web browser to never reload it again.
If that script has a unique ID number inside to identify your computer from anyone else's computer, the script can send it to the Web site along with your browsing history and other stuff. All of this information is associated on the Web site with the ID number on your computer. More information about Web browser cache security is available at this Darknet UK Web page.
Another problem with caching is anyone at your keyboard can view the Web browser cache with any number of tools. If other people access your computer, they may be able to access your logins and other private things.
It's recommended you allow your Web browser to completely clear the cache when it exits. Most Web browsers have this feature.
