The Most Likely Cause of "Webpage Has Expired"

by Fraser Sherman Google

If your browser informs you that the Web page you're clicking to has expired, that doesn't mean the page has ceased to exist. You may get the "expired" warning for a number of reasons, depending what you're doing, what computer system you use and your Internet browser. The problem is most likely to kick in when you click back to a page you just visited or try to refresh a page.


Normally, your browser caches the pages you visited earlier in an Internet browsing session. When you click the Back button in your browser to go back a page or two, it takes you there but sometimes will tell you the page has expired. One common reason, IT author Chris Shiflet says, is that the expired page might contain sensitive information. For example, if you filled out personal data in a sales form, or contacted your health insurer, the website's host may have prevented caching to ensure nobody else sees the data by accident.

Going Back

Even if there's no sensitive information, you may not be able to cache the Web page you want. Your browser requires a certain amount of disk space to store information from the pages. The browser gives you the option to set a cache limit and won't store anything beyond that. If you've set the limit too low, or you're working on someone else's machine, a page may expire because the browser can't retain the information.


POST is a method for sending data across the Internet, for example when filling out and submitting a form. If the data expires because of cache limits, your browser may tell you the problem and ask you to resubmit the data. Usually you can do so without harm. Internet Explorer, however, often tells users the Web page has expired, and that for security reasons, it's not going to resubmit the data.

Other Possibilities

In some cases, Microsoft states, Internet Explorer will give you an expiration warning even if you haven't clicked the Back button. This can occur if the advanced settings on your browser are configured so that it doesn't save encrypted pages. If changing that setting doesn't help, you might have to optimize Internet Explorer to make it work properly. You can also try clicking the Compatibility View button, which adjusts your browser to websites designed for older versions of Explorer.

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