I have an external JS file that I include in my ASPX page. Whenever I make changes to the JS, I need to close the browser and reopen it to see the changes. I have tried Ctrl F5 to refresh the cached JS copy but that doesn't work in IE.
Is there some way to not restart the browser to see the updated changes?
As others suggest, I would switch to Firefox for developing and keep IE only for testing.
If you want to keep developing on IE try the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar. It offers some of the functionality of Firebug and you will have quick access to options for disabling the cache or clearing the cache for a specific domain, solving your caching problems.
I sometimes keep the JavaScript or CSS files open in other tabs and force reload those tabs to get IE to understand "please reload everything, no really, everything."
Trying holding down the shift key when you click the refresh button.
In my experience IE caches things extremely aggresively. You might have to hit Ctrl + F5 several times until your changes show up.
Ctrl-F5 or Shift + Click on Refresh may work. If not, you can forcefully clear the cache from Tools/Internet Options/General/Temporary Files/Delete.
I would strongly recommend developing in another browser... the aggressive caching can be painful with IE. After developing you can come back and test in IE.
Also, Firebug (or something like it) is something I can't do without as web developer. Another good Firefox addon is the Web Developer Toolbar (which has an easy menu option to clear FF's cache).
If you would rather just stick with IE, I think James Socol's keeping things in other tabs would be the most sure method to avoid caching.
Do you have your IE set to check for newer versions of stored pages every time?
Tools-->Internet Options-->Settings [btn] -->Every visit to the page [radio]
