Based on a video by ProgrammingKnowledge2.
When a website acts weird - blank pages, images that won't load, forms that won't submit, a layout that looks broken - the fix is almost always the same: clear Chrome's cache. It's also the first thing any support line tells you to do.
This walkthrough is based on a tutorial from ProgrammingKnowledge2. Six steps, one minute, and the site will start behaving again.
With Chrome open, click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the window - just to the right of your profile icon. That opens Chrome's main menu.
If you can't find them, the three dots are sometimes called the 'kebab menu'. Same thing.
Tip
If you want to skip the whole menu route entirely, jump to step 6 - the keyboard shortcut does all of steps 1 and 2 in one keystroke.
In the menu that opened, hover over 'More tools' to expand its submenu. Inside, click 'Clear browsing data...'.
A dialog titled 'Clear browsing data' will open in the center of your window.
Tip
Notice Chrome shows 'Ctrl+Shift+Del' next to the option - that's the shortcut. Worth remembering after you've done this once or twice.
In the dialog, make sure you're on the 'Basic' tab (not 'Advanced'). Click the 'Time range' dropdown and choose 'All time'. Anything shorter leaves older cached files in place.
Chrome will show the size of the cache right underneath the checkboxes - often a few hundred megabytes, which tells you why websites have been feeling sluggish.
Tip
'Last hour' or 'Last 24 hours' can be useful if you know when the website started misbehaving - targets only the bad cache entries without flushing everything.
You'll see three checkboxes: Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, and Cached images and files.
For cache issues, uncheck 'Browsing history' and 'Cookies and other site data'. Leave only 'Cached images and files' checked. Clearing cookies logs you out of every site you're signed into - don't do it by accident.
Tip
If the problem is an individual website loading wrong, clearing just that site's cache in Developer Tools (F12 > Application tab > Storage) is even more targeted.
Click the blue 'Clear data' button in the bottom-right corner of the dialog. Chrome takes a few seconds to empty the cache, and the dialog closes on its own when it's done.
That's it. Reload the misbehaving website and it should work normally now.
Tip
The next page load on any site will be a touch slower than usual - that's Chrome rebuilding its cache as you browse. Back to normal speed after a minute or two of regular use.
Now that you know the menu route, skip it next time. Press Ctrl+Shift+Delete on Windows or Linux, or Cmd+Shift+Delete on Mac. The Clear browsing data dialog opens immediately, from anywhere in Chrome.
Same options, same buttons - just one keystroke instead of four clicks.
Tip
The same shortcut works in Firefox and Edge too. Different dialog, same idea. Worth committing to muscle memory.
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