University of Florida's Web Cache Service
Welcome to the University of Florida Web Cache Service Site. Here you can learn about one of UF's computer services called the web cache.
The web cache's main goal is to speed up web site browsing by storing locally (or caching) copies of frequently accessed websites to a location closer to you. This location is the actual web cache machine located on campus, so most students in the Gainesville area can benefit.
Web caches act as a middleman between your computer and the world wide web (the website portion of the internet). If the cache sees that it has a local copy of the website you requested, it will step into action and serve the data itself; otherwise, it will allow you to pass to through to the website directly.
Of course, your computer must be told to go through the web cache when accessing the web. The most common browsers (the programs that you type website addresses into) are listed in the menu to the right with specific instructions on configuring them to use the web cache.
Users will benefit most when downloading large, frequently accessed files. One such example are patches and
service packs from Microsoft's websites, which all windows users should frequently check for. Please contact
the help desk for further assistance.
