clear cache

Hello,

Reading posts here I often see the comment 'clear cache' used. What is 'clear cache' and when/why/how do I do it ?

Thanks

FH

Avoiding going into detail here, Flutterby.
Check out the link - http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/How_to_clear_your_disc_cache

The cache holds the assets (textures, sounds, etc) you've viewed in SL. There are a few reasons people recommend clearing this cache. For me it's usually for performance reasons, when the cache is pretty full SL's performace drops like a stone and its memory usage skyrockets. So clearing the cache fixes that issue, until it happens again. More commonly, people will buy something and for whatever reason it doesn't show up in their inventory. The common remedy for this is to clear the cache and force SL to reload their inventory from scratch. (You do this by opening an inventory window and typing something in its search field then waiting for the inventory to load completely.)

As for how to clear cache, you go into Edit/preferences/network, click Clear Cache and then log out and close the client. Upon restarting the client it clears (erases) the cache and then you log back into SL.

hi i read the comments on this and understand the reasons for doing it
but clearing and forcing reload conjures up images of getting nothing back, sounds crazy i know, but i have too many probs with this new version 20, that i daren't do anything drastic......

if i may ask another question..on log-in my comp screen is sometimes shifted over to the right, so i can't access inventory or right side of the sl screen tabs, this ususally clears to full screen if i re-log, but is there some screen or comp setting i have wrong here?

thanks dog

BTW - if your inventory is very large, I suggest finding an empty all or mostly water sim and sit at the bottom of the ocean until your inventory finishes loading --- especially if SL is in any way borked at the time. Use the time to read notecards, IM folks, check group notices, do a bit of inventory sorting or cleanout -- don't try rezzing stuff even if you are in a spot that allows it and don't change clothes/shoes/etc... Additionally, if you notice the inventory count slowing down, enter a different set of random letters in the search field and that seems to kick-start it again.

*bump*

Use the full water sims on the older continents though since they're openspaces on the new continent and inventory fetching can be painfully slow on an openspace.

Don't worry. All your stuff is kept on LL's asset servers, not your local hard drive. Clearing cache will not affect your stuff (there are other things that can cause inventory loss, but clearing cache is not one of them).

Clearing your cache is not drastic...it's the SL equivalent of a doctor saying, "take two aspirin and call me in the morning". It's almost the first thing to try in any problem situation.