OK I the bandwidth thing is out of my ball park, but I do know I am not suppose to go over it. I was reading something about CACHE, how it free up bandwidth? Can someone direct me to a place where I can learn about this...or give a brief explanation. I know in my preference...it has option of turning CACHE on for the modules...It is currently defaulted on NO....but I am eager to learn it's advantage of I say YES, and the ins and outs of the usage of it...

eq

The Cache is a buffer that stores a snapshot on the server for quicker retrieval. These cache files are stored in the "cache" folder on your server. To manually delete the stored snapshot files in your cache folder reset this to "No Cache".

Note: While the cache for "News" is activated for example, you will not be able to see any new news articles until the cache time activation expires, or until you reset this to "No Cache".

Setting the cache for individual modules here will override any local cache settings set-up for individual modules.*

Essentially what this means is that there are less databse queries because everything is stored in a cache file, including the template files for that module or block. Making less calls to the database means that the output to the browser will be faster because the information is stored in the cache file. The amount of bandwidth saved might be minimal however. My understanding in that area is a little less profficient.

*This info was taken from the XOOPS for Dummies handbook created by JackJ

So basically, it will not save much in bandwith?

not in bandwidth, no. But in server resources and site speed, yes.

Herko

what about the forum? Does this stop the new forum posts from coming up till the cache time expires? for eg. 30 seconds. Thanks

Set everything else to a suitable cache.

30 seconds may be fine for some forums - depending on traffic - but a busy site may need none.

Don't forget each block can have its own cache setting as well as each module.

It is worth playing with the settings, as it can make a lot of difference to your server load and site speed.

Can it cache avatars ?