Disk Usage Settings

Cache Settings

The Cache settings are accessed from the Settings dialog.

As you explore the Active Worlds Universe, the files and data which describe the appearance of the 3D worlds are downloaded from the Internet and stored on your hard disk. So that you don't have to keep re-downloading the same files over and over again on subsequent visits, they are saved in a folder named "cache" within your Active Worlds installation folder.

The more you explore Active Worlds, the more files are downloaded and stored in your cache. The size of the cache can grow to many megabytes after extended use.

In the Cache Settings dialog, you can adjust the maximum size of the disk cache, as well as other options. You can even disable the cache size limit entirely by selecting No Limit. In this case, your cache folder will continue to grow endlessly as you visit more worlds and more files are downloaded. Use this option with caution, since with the disk cache disabled the cache folder can eventually grow to several hundred megabytes in size (depending on how many different worlds you visit) and possibly even fill up your entire hard disk!

You can also have Active Worlds automatically delete files in the cache folder that have not been used for a certain amount of time, regardless of the current total size of the cache. This option is disabled by default. If you enable it, you should pick a reasonable value for the number of days old a file has to be before it is deleted. 30 days is a good value. If you set this value too low, files may get deleted too soon and you will wind up re-downloading data unnecessarily and reducing performance.

The total size of your cache folder (determined from the last time Active Worlds scanned the entire cache folder) is displayed at the bottom of this dialog.

Settings

The following are the specific settings found in the Cache Settings box:

• Automatically delete files unused since..: Specify the number of days in which you wish to keep cached files.

• Limit to about..: Specify the maximum amount of physical memory that you want files to occupy.

• Purge on app exit: Deletes all cache on exit.

• Purge interval: Specify specific time frames in which you would like to empty the cache. This method is recurring at the specified time interval.

• Purge Cache at: Specify a specific time when you want to empty the cache. This method occurs once at the specified date and time.

• Disk space used: This calculates how much disk space is used by the cache file.

• Exclude from all purges: Select options you wish to keep in the cache file.
  • Universe Arts (CAV, PAV)
  • Worlds Property (Objects found in world)
  • Slides (Slides cached from presentations)