How Much Disk Space Should I Use With Web Pages?

Stick with Microsoft's Recommendation

When you first launch Internet Explorer 8, your "Disk space to use," or cache, for web pages and associated files is set to the default value of 50MB under "Tools," "Internet Options." Microsoft recommends this setting for most users and recommends a maximum cache size of 250MB.

Increase Space for Special Circumstances

The recommended disk space setting may cause problems in some cases. If you do your surfing on a slow Internet connection, you may be able to get webpages to display faster by increasing your disk space setting to the point where it allows more pages to be stored in the cache, according to Microsoft's online resource Microsoft at Work. If you have trouble downloading large files, you may have to increase your cache size temporarily to accommodate at least the size of the file you're trying to download, according to Adobe's support page about download problems.

Bottom Line

Most users will experience satisfactory Web browsing without ever having to change the default browser disk space setting for saving webpages. In some special cases, however, conditions may dictate a permanent or a temporary change for better performance.

References

• Smart Computing: Internet Explorer 8
• Tech Radar: 8 Ways to Speed Up Internet Explorer 8
• Microsoft at Work: 7 Ways to Work Faster on Slow Connections
• Adobe: Troubleshoot Download Problems