Why Do I Need to Set Browser Preferences?

Most browsers are set to check web pages on a server on the Internet only intermittently. When you go to a URL, often what you see is a version of the page that has been stored on your computer. Setting browser preferences in this manner means that pages can be accessed faster and your institution’s connection to the Internet will not be taxed as much. Most of the time, this is the preferred solution because most web pages are changed infrequently.

However, pages in course management systems are changed very frequently so browser preferences must be set to check with the server where the web pages reside every time you go to them (this is known as refreshing the disk cache). This is particularly important in order to view the latest messages in your discussions area.

Setting Cache Preferences in Internet Explorer

• Select Tools from the browser menu; choose Internet Options.
• Select the Settings button in the Temporary Internet files section.
• Click the radio button next to Every visit to the page.
• Click Okay and then Okay again.

Setting Cache Preferences In Netscape

• Select Edit from the browser menu; choose Preferences.
• Click the + next to Advanced (on the left).
• Click Cache.
• Click the radio button next to Every time.
• Click Okay.

If you will be using advanced features such as Chat, you may need to change the Java and JavaScript settings in your browser. These allow you to use and view features that were creating using Java and JavaScript programming languages.

Setting Java and JavaScript Preferences in Internet Explorer

• Select Tools from the browser menu; choose Internet Options.
• Select the Advanced tab.
• Under Microsoft VM, check Java Console Enabled and JIT compiler for virtual machine enabled.
• Click Okay.

Setting Java and JavaScript Preferences In Netscape

• Select Edit from the browser menu; choose Preferences.
• Click the + next to Advanced (on the left).
• Check Enable Java and Enable JavaScript.
• Click Okay.