Page updated: 1-Sep-2010
If you suspect the web site is displaying out-of-date information, read on... if you need further help with this, please send an email to the address at the bottom of this page.
A quick check to see if the web page you are viewing is out-of-date is to press the Ctrl key and hold it down while you press the F5 key (this assumes you are using Internet Explorer as your browser; other browsers may use different keys for this). If the page content changes, then this may be an indication that your PC is not automatically picking up the latest information.
When you surf the internet, web pages that you visit are saved on your PC in a temporary location (cache) to speed up access next time you visit those pages. The PC checks if the page has been updated since your last visit; if so then it reloads the updated page from the internet, otherwise it uses the saved page.
Sometimes this checking mechanism goes wrong and your PC continues to use the saved out-of-date copy instead of the latest; this is a known problem and affects other web sites, not just this one. It may sort itself out after a few days, but it's not guaranteed.
More information can be found at Microsoft, although it doesn't mention anything about the checking process not working properly!
The above Ctrl F5 technique only forces a reload of the single page you are currently viewing, so a more convenient solution is to force a reload of all pages by deleting these 'temporary internet files'. You can do this manually or automatically.
The actual method depends on the type and version of Internet browser you are using. The following methods assume you are using Internet Explorer:-
If you can see the Internet Explorer icon, right-click it, then left-click Properties.
If you can't see the icon, then click Start, (Settings), Control Panel, Internet Options. Depending on the version of Internet Explorer, you should see an Internet Properties window something like this:-
Click General at top-left, then click Delete; this will display a further window allowing you to select which items are to be deleted:-
If you don't see the above windows, try looking around for an option to Delete Temporary Internet Files; it may look like this:-
Either way, click Delete Files, then click Yes if asked to confirm. There may be a delay of several minutes while it deletes all the temporary files it has built up over time. As this is a manual process, you may need to repeat this at regular intervals; alternatively use the Automatic solution below.
To avoid manually deleting these files on a regular basis, you can configure your browser to automatically delete them whenever you close it. This is a reasonable compromise as it will then use the caching system during your session, but everything will be refreshed & brought up-to-date when you start your next session. This may slow down your internet access to some degree, especially if you are using dial-up access; however, broadband users so far have reported no difference (and some even found it was quicker!). If you find it a problem with your system, then simply reverse the modification shown below.
If you can see the Internet Explorer icon, right-click it, then left-click Properties.
If you can't see the icon, then click Start, (Settings), Control Panel, Internet Options. Depending on the version of Internet Explorer, you should see an Internet Options/Properties window something like this:-
Click Advanced, then scroll down and look for a tick-box called 'Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed'. Click the box to 'tick' it, and then click OK.
When you close Internet Explorer for the first time, there may be a delay of several minutes while it deletes all the temporary files it has built up over time, but subsequent close-downs will be much quicker.
Please contact us via the email address below if you are still having problems.
