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Cache memory: what is it, what is it for and how does this software element work?

Cache memory: what is it

We’ve heard a lot about the cache, but we don’t always know what this software element is and how it works. That is why here on internetpasoapaso.com you will find all the necessary information to understand it .

Here we will see the great importance of having a careful cache on our computer, since everything in excess is bad , so we will have to occasionally clean the cache.

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If we don’t know how to clear the cache, here we will also learn how to do it, both for our mobile device and for our PC .

What is the “cache” in computing and what is it for?

In computer science we can say that a cache is a kind of memory that is placed between the CPU and RAM in order to have a faster exchange of information . This is widely used by all people, although many do not know what it really is.

Every time we access a portal or load a resource on our computer. This leaves information in the cache so that when we access again, the information exchange time is shorter , since the internal memory of the computer has a kind of copy of images and protocols required by the page.

This cache is not only present in the software, but also in some hardwares, implying that the cache is present in each of the things we do with our computer. For example, when we are writing a document in Word and the software closes unexpectedly without us saving , the computer makes a temporary backup of the file, this is also known as a cache.

What is a cache memory and which hardware depends on it?

As we already mentioned, a cache is a kind of memory, so we can also consider it as a data storage layer to increase the speed of connection and transmission of information , normally transient. So when we want to access again somewhere, software or perhaps a website, this first sends a signal to reuse the saved information (cache) since this is the first thing that loads and then is updated.

All that cache data or cache memory is automatically stored in a quick access hardware, which is known as random access memory or RAM, so it is used together with some software components . But what is the main reason for the cache? The main reason is to increase efficiency in data recovery while avoiding forcing the system to access the underlying storage layer, which is much slower.

At the time the information is exchanged from the cache, a subset of data and files is stored transiently , something that does not usually happen in the database whose elements are complete and durable.

How does a cache work?

Imagine having to do some work in Excel for some calculations, and you will use it again later as it has the ideal formulas for what you are doing. After using it you save it, and when you want to do calculations again with the same formulas instead of doing all the programming again just open the Excel document you did previously in order to do the job faster.

Because that cache is simple , it saves the necessary information such as images, HTML structure or other things , than when we use the software again with the same path , this does not need to be started again from scratch as it will go to the information that is already stored on your computer.

If you are a game lover, you can always experience it, since when the game starts for the first time the loading and unloading of information necessary for it to work correctly, but when you want to access the next day to the game, the load is faster. This is due to what we have already mentioned, because the games page downloaded the necessary information to the computer so that next time you do not have to do it again.

Steps to clear the cache of your device to improve its performance

There are several ways to clear the cache of our computer, but those many ways can be summarized in one. As we mentioned earlier, this memo is present in almost everything we do at the computer level.

Follow the steps below so you can clear the cache on our computer:

In Windows

First we look in the Windows menu for the option of “Computer” there will open a window, in which the volumes or labels of the disks that are available at the moment appear. Then we select the disk that says “Local Disk” mostly this label is labeled “C” as it is in our case. Then we right click on the disk and a menu of options will be displayed.

In the menu that appears, we will look for the last option that says “Properties” and click on it. It will open a small window with the name “Properties: Local disk (C :)”.

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We locate the tab that says “General” and we go to the option of “Free space”. When we click on the option we will see that a small box appears Its name is “Disk Cleanup.” This protocol is to calculate the amount of things that can be deleted (cache). Depending on the amount of files that our PC has, it will take time to load, so we have to wait a few minutes for the process to finish.

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Then another window will open with the same name as the previous one, with a list of the files that can be deleted, where we can also see the total accumulated space as a result of the sum of the junk files (cache ) .

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After selecting each of the files we click on “Clean system files” , the cleaning process of all files that can be deleted will automatically begin, when the process is finished we click in “Accept” to close the window and complete the entire process.

Then we will see that our computer will have a better performance, since a PC with a very loaded cache shows symptoms of slowness and low capacity.

On Android

If what we want is delete the cache of our Android device we can do it in a simple way . There are many applications today that do so automatically and simply, but if you don’t want to use any app follow the steps below.

First we go to the Android menu, and select the app that we want to delete the cache (the app you use the most has more cache stored). Then we go to “Information”, and there we see an option that says “Clear Cache” and tap on it. In this very simple way you can clear cache of all applications.

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