Microsoft KB Archive/288388

= The Expires Header Field Is Treated Differently in Internet Explorer 4.0 and 5.0 =

Article ID: 288388

Article Last Modified on 3/11/2002

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 128-Bit Edition
 * Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0

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This article was previously published under Q288388



SUMMARY
A Web master or a Web developer may use the Expires header field to control how often the browser looks for updated information from the Web server. The method that Microsoft Internet Explorer uses to handle the Expires header field has changed between Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0.



MORE INFORMATION
The browsers in Internet Explorer 4.0 and earlier always check the server to see if the content was updated and ignores the Expires header field. With the browsers in Internet Explorer 5.0 and later, the Expires header field has precedence if it exists. The browser does not check the server for updated content until the content is expired or until you select to refresh the page.

