Applies to these editions of Windows Vista:

View temporary Internet files

The information in this Help topic applies to Windows Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Internet Explorer 8.

Webpages are stored in a temporary Internet files folder the first time you view them in your web browser. This speeds up the display of pages you frequently visit or have already seen, because Internet Explorer can open them from your hard disk instead of from the Internet.

To view temporary Internet files

Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Internet Explorer.
Click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
Click the General tab, and then, under Browsing history, click Settings.
In the Settings dialog box, click View files.

To delete temporary Internet files

It's a good idea to delete temporary Internet files periodically to free hard disk space.

Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Internet Explorer.
Click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
Click the General tab, and then, under Browsing history, click Delete.
In the Delete Browsing History dialog box, do one of the following:
- In Internet Explorer 8, select the check boxes for the information you want to delete, click Delete, and then click OK.
- In Internet Explorer 7, click the individual type of information you want to delete. You can also click Delete all to remove all temporary files. When you're finished, click Close, and then click OK.

Tip

If you want to save a permanent copy of one of the files in your Temporary Internet Files folder, copy it to another folder. To copy a file while you're viewing temporary files, right-click the file, click Copy, and then paste the file into another folder.

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