Why can’t I see my new web page ?
One of the most common questions I get asked quite regularly after carrying out modifications or additions to a clients website is “Why can’t I see my new webpage ?” I thought it would be useful to explain why this is and how to resolve it.
The “Techy” bit
When you visit a website for the first time, your browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc.) communicates with the server (where the website is hosted) which then sends a copy of the page and all its contents to your browser which it then displays for you to read.
Web pages contain a lot of content (e.g. words, images etc), made up of lots of separate files so each of these needs to be downloaded to your browser individually before it can display the page. This is why sometimes you notice it takes a while to display everything, particularly if you have large images.
This process takes time and bandwidth so it costs time and money to do this every time you re-load a page. Some of this content quite often does not change very often, or is the same on multiple pages (e.g. a logo displayed in the header) so the browser stores a copy of all the files locally in what is called its “cache”.
The next time a page is loaded, the browser first checks in its cache to see if it already has a copy of each file and then uses this rather than downloading it again from the server. This is obviously faster and also reduces the amount of bandwidth required as it only needs now to download the files that it does not have.
When you update or change the content on a website and upload the new version to the server, if the file name is the same, the browser would not know that it has changed so it still quite reasonably uses the local version it has stored in its cache so you still see the previous version.
The fix
Simple, all you need to do is to tell the browser to get the latest version of the files from the server by clicking on the refresh button at the top of your browser. The refresh button usually looks like a circular arrow on most browsers. Some examples are included below:
Firefox, Chrome
Internet Explorer
So now you know.
Which Antivirus tool ?
Probably the most important software you need if you have a PC is a good Anti-virus tool. Businesses are always looking at ways to cut costs and anti-virus software can be quite expensive so choosing one that suits you is always a bit of a compromise although the result of not having a good quality tool installed can be devastating if your machine gets infected.
A recent group test of the main security suite software in use today was carried out by Web User magazine recently and it revealed some surprising results.
The Gold award actually went to a free tool (AVG) as being best value for money and high scores. Of the best know commercial products, Norton came in 3rd position and McAfee was surprisingly way down the list.
The free AVG Anti-Virus tools came out with really good scores, the only negative point was that it does not include a firewall so you need to find a suitable one to install in order to ensure total protection to your system.
Antivirus tool comparison test results
Personally, I have been using Norton for some time and have found it very good. The only thing I have found is the cost when it comes to renewal. Norton offer a facility to renew your licence on-line which is useful but expensive ! If you look around, you can usually find a copy on special offer which is quite often about half the price so it is usually cheaper to buy a new copy rather than renewing.
Looking at the group test results, if I was going to choose another tool, the best option that I liked the look of was Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security. The report indicates it costs a very reasonable £23 and it appears to have everything you need included.
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