A Quick Fix That Fixes 30% of Help Desk Problems

One of the most obvious patterns you learn when you work in IT support is that a lot of "the website is broken" support tickets have nothing to do with the website at all. In fact, almost one in three can be fixed with one simple step that seems almost magical: clearing your browser's cache and cookies.

Why This Easy Step Works

Your browser is meant to speed up and improve your web browsing experience. It does this by saving things like images, scripts, and login tokens on your computer so you don't have to download them again every time you visit a site.

But when a website updates, those saved files can quickly become a problem. You might have problems like:

• Buttons that don't work.
• Pages that don't load or look old.
• Login loops that keep sending you back to the screen where you sign in.

In short, your browser is trying to help, but it has old information. When you clear the cache and cookies, your browser starts over and gets the newest versions of everything your site needs.

The Easy Fix

Here's how to delete cookies and cached data from the most popular browsers:

• For Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, press Ctrl + Shift + Delete on Windows or Cmd + Shift + Delete on Mac.
• To clear data in Safari, go to Settings, then Privacy, and then Clear Data.

In the message that pops up:

• Pick Cookies and Cached Files
• Set the time range to "All Time"
• Restart your browser and confirm

Tips for Professionals

Get your passwords ready. If you clear your cookies, you'll be logged out of most sites. So, make sure you have your login information or a password manager ready.

If problems keep happening, restart your computer. A simple reboot often clears up background processes or system cache that could be causing problems.

The Bigger Picture: Giving Users More Power

Giving users the tools to take these small, proactive steps can help them feel less frustrated and lower the number of tickets. A lot of the time, what seems like a "website issue" has nothing to do with the site itself. Explaining why this is the case gives people confidence to fix problems on their own in the future.

Every IT professional learns this truth at some point: the simplest fixes can sometimes solve the biggest problems.