How To Clear Cache In Surface Pro 4 (6 Different Ways)

Surface Pro 4 can be pretty demanding in terms of resources. Cache piling up on your computer will probably slow everything down, making you think that it’s the operating system to blame. Instead, a thorough cleanup and getting rid of everything unnecessary could offer you a significantly better experience. Below we’ll explain how to clear cache on Surface Pro 4.

In this article, we are going to show you how to do all that with little effort. From general facts on how to clear cache in Surface Pro 4 OS to how to remove desktop apps cache, how to clear the file explorer history, or how to clear the Internet Explorer cache in Surface Pro 4, you’re going to learn a lot.

Step 1 – Understand the different types of cache on your operating system

Like mentioned, Surface Pro 4 is complex and lots of things happen in the background. Many of the newly introduced functions will run in the background, taking their slice of the system’s resources. In order to clear cache Surface Pro 4, you should be well-aware of what and where you have to look for.

To begin with, there are two individual environments that this OS distributes on your computer:

1. The desktop, with its desktop app cache;
2. The Modern UI, with its Modern UI app cache:
   • Windows Store cache
   • Internet Explorer cache
   • Location History
   • File Explorer History

Each of these requires some special attention when it comes to clearing cache. And as we are about to find out together, there are different ways you can achieve this.

Step 2 – Remove the Desktop Apps cache in Surface Pro 4

Everything you do on your computer leaves traces under the form of thumbnail cache, browser cache, DNS cache, font cache, and so on. If you want to clear all that, you can do it manually, or automatically, with software like Ccleaner, through a simple mouse click. This is a great solution for those wanting to know how to clear memory on computer.

We would recommend you to use Ccleaner, an option that is particularly easy to run, very effective, and also free of charge. You can use this link to download it and start doing the cleanup right away.

Alternatively, you could use the Disk Cleanup and get rid of all types of recyclable cache, be it temp files, thumbnail or whatever.

How do you access the Disk Cleanup function?

1. Access the Cortana search box;
2. Type in cleanmgr;
3. From the search results, identify and click on Disk Cleanup;
4. In the newly opened Disk Cleanup window, you can initiate a file scan;
   • Select the first drive you want to scan and hit the OK button;
   • In the newly opened window, check all the boxes and hit the button labeled as “Clean up system files”;
   • In the next window, select the drive where all your system files are stored and hit the OK button;
   • Wait for the tool to identify what files you can actually delete and which ones you should keep;
   • Check all the boxes it will display and hit the OK button;
5. If you encounter browsing problems, flushing the DNS cache is one way to solve them;
   • Go to the start menu and type in the search box the command “ipconfig/flushdns” without quotation marks;
   • Hit the Enter key.

Looks like you’ve covered it all, but we haven’t even come to the part with the Modern UI. So coming up next is a series of solutions for clearing the Internet Explorer, the Windows Store, the Live Tile, the File Explorer History and so on.

Step 3 – Clear the file explorer history 

Funny thing, step number 3 is actually a 3-step simple process that will allow you to clear cache on Surface Pro 4. Every time you open a folder or a file in Surface Pro 4, a cache will be automatically generated. The more you surf through your computer, the slower the PC execution might get.

All you need to do to clear cache in Surface Pro 4:

1. Go to the taskbar and click on the File Explorer icon;
2. In the newly opened File Explorer window go to the tab View and identify the icon labeled as Options – it should be at the right corner of the ribbon;
3. In the newly opened Folder Options wizard, click on the Clear button from the lower part of the window.

Step 4 – Clear the Internet Explorer cache

Every now and then, brushing up your Internet browser and removing all the history it stored in cache is a good thing. So launch Internet Explorer and follow these steps:

1. In the upper-right-corner identify the Tool button and click on it;
2. In the newly opened menu, select the Internet options;
3. In the newly opened Internet Properties box, go to the tab labeled as General;
4. Identify the Browsing history section and scroll down to its bottom;
5. Click on the Delete button;
6. In the newly opened pop-up box, tick all the checkboxes;
7. Click Delete.

Step 5 – Clear store cache in Surface Pro 4 

Yet another upgrade Surface Pro 4 came with is the pairing of the Windows Store with the Windows Store beta. This newer version will also contribute to generating more cache that you need to get rid of. Luckily, the process is extremely simple, as it only involves a single command line.

1. Go to the Run box by simultaneously clicking on the Windows key and the R key from your keyboard
2. In the newly opened run box, type the command exe
3. Press Enter for the command to run

And that was it. You’ve gone through pretty much all the essential steps of cleaning your operating system. Your PC should work visibly smoother from now on. Nevertheless, we would suggest you a last final tweak:

Step 6 – Clear the location history

Three more steps from now, and you’re ready to go:

1. Access the Settings app;
2. Go to Privacy, Location;
3. Under Location History, hit the Clear button.

After you follow the steps above, you’ll know how to clear cache on Surface Pro 4.