Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
that.in.with.the.basic.operating.system..However,.there.are.
many. more. browser. applications. available.. All. of. them. are.
free.and.downloadable.from.the.Internet.(so.you.have.to.have.
a.browser.to.start.with—it.is.a.good.thing.most.all.operating.
systems.include.one.or.another.of.them).
Some. of. the. most. widely. recognized. and. used. browsers.
besides. Microsoft's. Internet. Explorer. are. Mozilla's. Firefox,.
Apple's. Safari,. Google's. Chrome,. and. Opera.. All. of. these.
employ.different.engineering.to.create.storage.of.everything.
you.access.on.the.Internet.
These.stores.are.usually.called.a.cache.ile..They.can.be.
stored.in.different.folders,.or.even.spread.out.among.different.
folders.on.your.hard.drive.depending.on.the.browser.applica-
tion..But.in.every.case,.they.literally.keep.track.of.every.data.
item.that.you.access.while.on.the.Internet,.record.them,.and.
store.them.for.some.amount.of.time.
The. length. of. time. those. data. items. are. stored. depends.
on.the.application.and.often.on.settings.that.you.control..You.
can. open. a. menu. item. in. your. browser. application. (usually.
called. “Internet. Options”. or. something. similar). that. allows.
you.to.either.set.limits.on.when.and.for.how.long.cache.iles.
are.kept,.or.delete.and.clear.them.altogether.if.you.wish.
I.said.that.these.browser.applications.store.every.data.item.
you.access.when.you.are.on.the.Internet,.but.I'm.willing.to.
bet.that.most.of.you.have.very.little.idea.of.all.the.types.and.
amounts.of.data.that.entails..We.look.at.some.examples.in.a.
minute.to.show.you,.but.irst.let's.consider.why.these.applica-
tions.would.bother.to.store.all.that.data.
There.are.several.reasons,.and.chief.among.them.is.not,.
in.fact,.to.allow.forensics.investigators.and.law.enforcement.
to.have.a.way.to.catch.you.if.you.were.bad..In.fact,.I.would.
venture. to. say. that. wasn't. even. on. the. radar. of. the. com-
puter.engineers.who.developed.these.applications..The.main.
reason. these. items. are. stored. is. to. make. your. experience.
while.browsing.more.enjoyable.and.eficient.
When.you.open.a.browser.and.type.in.an.Internet.address.
(also. known. as. a. URL,. or. Uniform. Resource. Locator),. you.
