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An Official Web Site of the United States Government
Thursday, May 17, 2012

Important Links

Adobe PDF Vulnerability

A vulnerability has been identified with viewing Adobe's Portable Document Format (.pdf) forms from a public computer (i.e., library or coffee shop).  Information in the Adobe form is cached, thereby allowing another user to view your Personally Identifiable Information (commonly referred to as PII.)  Until this vulnerability has been corrected by Microsoft and Adobe, we would recommend that you not use public computers to access or enter your personal information.  If you cannot avoid using a public computer, follow the instructions on how to manually clear the cache after use below.  Once the vulnerability has been corrected this message will no longer appear.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. 

Instructions on How to Manually Clear the Cache 

Manually clearing your Internet Explorer 6 browser's cache:

  1.  On the Internet Explorer 6 Tools menu, click Internet Options
  2. The Internet Options box should open to the General tab
  3. On the General tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click the Delete Files button. (This will delete all the files that are currently stored in your cache)

    cache manual
  4. Click OK, and then click OK again.

Note: This option does not delete cookies, but it will clear your cache of other files when you close your browser.

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To adjust your Internet brower to automatically clear the cache whenever you close the Brower:

  1. Go to the Tools menu
  2. Click Internet Options
  3. Click the Advanced tab.
  4. In the "Settings" box, scroll down to the section labeled "Security,"
  5. Click to check the box next to the "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed" option.

    cache auto
  6. Click OK to finish.

Note: This option does not delete cookies, but it will clear your cache of other files when you close your browser.

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Clearing the Temporary Cache in Internet Explorer 7 

To manually clear cache in IE 7    

  1. Select Tools Menu and then select Internet Options to get the below window.

    cache ie7 
  2. Select the Delete Button to get the below window.

    cache browsing history
  3. Select the Delete files button to clear cache
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To configure Profile to Automatically clear cache, set this in your Internet Explorer Profile. 

  1. Check the box to "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed."
  2. Select the Apply Button and then the Ok button.

    empty tempfiles
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