IE: Difference between "Automatically" fetch newest verison and "Every time I visit"?

Question

In the dialog panel for IE there is a setting for Check for newer versions of stored pages with options:

• Every time I visit the webpage
• Every time I start Internet Explorer
• Automatically
• Never

What is the difference between Every Time and Automatically?

Answer 1

Specifically,

"This [Automatically] is the same as the previous setting [Every time you start Internet Explorer], but with a logic algorithm to understand the habits of Web page behavior. This setting specifies that when you return to a page you viewed previously, Internet Explorer should not check to see whether the page has changed since you last viewed it. If you select this setting, Internet Explorer checks for new content only when you return to a page that you viewed in an earlier session of Internet Explorer or on an earlier day. Over time, if Internet Explorer determines that images on the page are changing infrequently, it checks for newer images even less frequently."

Full details of each option

Every visit to the page: When you return to a page you viewed previously, Internet Explorer should check to see whether the page changed since you last viewed it. If the page has changed, Internet Explorer displays the new page and stores it in the Temporary Internet Files. Note that selecting this option can slow down browsing between pages you have already viewed.

Every time you start Internet Explorer: When you view a Web site that you have visited before in the same Internet Explorer session, Internet Explorer uses the cached temporary Internet files instead of downloading the page. If you press F5 or click Refresh, Internet Explorer downloads the page.

Automatically (Internet Explorer 5 and later only): This is the same as the previous setting, but with a logic algorithm to understand the habits of Web page behavior. This setting specifies that when you return to a page you viewed previously, Internet Explorer should not check to see whether the page has changed since you last viewed it.

If you select this setting, Internet Explorer checks for new content only when you return to a page that you viewed in an earlier session of Internet Explorer or on an earlier day. Over time, if Internet Explorer determines that images on the page are changing infrequently, it checks for newer images even less frequently.

Never: Internet Explorer does not check the Web server for newer content.

Source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/263070

Answer 2

What is the difference between Every Time and Automatically?

Automatically - This is the same as Every time, but with a logic algorithm to understand the habits of Web page behavior.

This setting specifies that when you return to a page you viewed previously, Internet Explorer should not check to see whether the page has changed since you last viewed it.

If you select this setting, Internet Explorer checks for new content only when you return to a page that you viewed in an earlier session of Internet Explorer or on an earlier day. Over time, if Internet Explorer determines that images on the page are changing infrequently, it checks for newer images even less frequently.

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Description of the Cache Settings

There are four options under Check for newer versions of stored pages:

• Every visit to the page:

  When you return to a page you viewed previously, Internet Explorer should check to see whether the page changed since you last viewed it. If the page has changed, Internet Explorer displays the new page and stores it in the Temporary Internet Files. Note that selecting this option can slow down browsing between pages you have already viewed.

• Every time you start Internet Explorer:

  When you view a Web site that you have visited before in the same Internet Explorer session, Internet Explorer uses the cached temporary Internet files instead of downloading the page. If you press F5 or click Refresh, Internet Explorer downloads the page.

• Automatically (Internet Explorer 5 and later only):

  This is the same as the previous setting, but with a logic algorithm to understand the habits of Web page behavior. This setting specifies that when you return to a page you viewed previously, Internet Explorer should not check to see whether the page has changed since you last viewed it.

  If you select this setting, Internet Explorer checks for new content only when you return to a page that you viewed in an earlier session of Internet Explorer or on an earlier day. Over time, if Internet Explorer determines that images on the page are changing infrequently, it checks for newer images even less frequently.

• Never:

  Internet Explorer does not check the Web server for newer content.

Source How Internet Explorer cache settings affect Web browsing

Answer 3

Perhaps this should be in a separate thread but it might be relevant because those settings may not always appear to work (correctly).

I have had users who (automatically) empty their temporary internet files when they exit IE (IE 11 is currently used).

Some users (so far, all with ATT internet) get a redirection when they are on VPN and try to access some internal sites. (Sorry, the page you were looking for does not exist or is not available. We performed a web search for “internal site” and here's what we found. Then the ATT/Yahoo search results follow.)

I have not tried using either of the "every time" settings as clearing the files on exit should take care of it, however it appears that IE won't clear the files (cookies) if there are corrupt or abnormal cookies so on every access of the particular web pages it give the redirection (AKA hijacking).

Opening the same sites in Chrome works fine. (We don't have Safari, Firefox or other browsers to try.)

You have to manually delete the cookies (manually meaning not from within IE). Within IE, open Tools, Internet Options and in the Browsing History section click on Settings. In the settings window click on the View Files button. Keep that window open and close IE. (The W7 directory is C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files.)

Once IE is closed, select the files in that directory and delete them. Re-open IE to the problem pages and they should properly display.

For all I know, corrupt/abnormal cookies may affect how the above settings actually work, especially "automatically".