Windows activity history doesn't suit you? Let's see how to
deactivate this function on Windows 11 and Windows 10
The
most recent adaptations of Windows (11 and 10) gather individual data about the
applications we open consistently, the pages we looked for in the Beginning
menu search yet in addition the recorded areas and the documents we have opened
as of late. Although this information makes it simpler to locate
applications or files that we have recently opened, it also presents a privacy
issue: in the event that we leave the PC unattended anybody can peruse which programs
we have opened and which documents we have changed in the last period..
In
the event that we care especially about security on our PC, in this guide we
will tell you the best way to erase the movement history on Windows 11 and 10 ,
utilizing both the menus previously ready by Microsoft for this reason and the
applications intended to expand the protection of Microsoft working frameworks. In
the guide we will show you both how to delete the information already collected
and how to prevent the system from collecting other personal information.
Clear activity history on Windows 11
On Windows 11 it is very easy to delete the activity history,
given that a menu dedicated to privacy is offered. To proceed, all we have
to do is right-click on the Start menu, select the Settings menu, click
on the Privacy and Security menu and finally take us to the Activity
History menu .
Once we reach the screen, press the Delete button
(in the Clear activity history section) to delete all system
history. To prevent the history of activities carried out from being saved
in the future, we can remove the check mark from the Archive activity
history on this device item, present on the same screen.
To delete the history of searches carried out on the Start menu,
go to Settings -> Privacy and security -> Search permissions and
press the Delete device search history button to erase all
traces. Again we can remove the capture of this history by turning off the
switch under the Search history on this device section.
If, however, we wanted to delete the history of files that we
have recently opened, we open the File Explorer app, press on the three dots at
the top, select the Options item and, in the General tab, press on theDelete button under
the Privacy section. In the same section we can remove
the two indicated ticks, so as to prevent the display of the latest opened
files and folders (in the Quick Access section).
Among the personal information collected by Windows 11 we also
find location history, stored on the PC only if we have activated location
services. To proceed, let's go to Settings -> Privacy and
security -> Path and press the Delete button next
to the Location history item.
On the same screen, at the top, we can choose to completely
deactivate location history, so as to prevent the collection of geographical
information (useless if we are using a desktop PC).
Finally, we can delete the list of recent and suggested apps in
the Start menu by going to Settings -> Personalization -> Start and
deactivating the switch next to the two items Show recently added apps and Show
recently opened items in the Start menu, in the Jump List and in File Explorer .
Clear activity history on Windows 10
We can delete the activity history on Windows 10 by using menus
tailored to this operating system or those similar to those found on Windows
11. To begin, we deactivate the activity history by right-clicking on the
Start menu, opening the Settings menu, pressing on the Privacy menu
and finally on the Activity History menu.
In the screen that opens, press the Delete button
under the Clear activity history section, then remove the
check mark from the items Store activity history on this device and Send
my activity history to Microsoft .
Still from the Privacy menu seen above, let's
go to the General menu and deactivate all the switches
present, so as to minimize the collection of activities carried out on the PC
(specifically the applications that we have open while utilizing the PC).
Remaining in the Privacy menu, press on the Path menu
and press on Delete , under the Location History section. As
already seen for Windows 11, from this screen we can deactivate the geolocation
of the device by pressing the Edit button at the top and
deactivating the button that will appear in the overlay window.
To deactivate the search history on the device, go to Settings
-> Search -> Permissions and history and press Clear
device history . To prevent the system from starting to memorize
the searches we make, we also deactivate the switch under the Search
history section of this device .
Now all that remains is to clear the history of recently opened
files and folders within File Explorer; to proceed we open the file
manager from the Start menu, press at the top on the View menu ,
press on the Options icon and, in the General screen,
press at the bottom on the Delete button.
Here too we can remove the check mark from the items under the Privacy section,
so as to prevent other files and folders from being displayed in the Quick
Access section.
App to clear activity history
If all these steps have only made you waste time or we need to
configure a large number of PCs, we suggest you delete the activity history
using a free tool such as O&O ShutUp10++ , available for free
download and compatible with both Windows 10 and Windows 11 .
With ShutUp10++ we can obtain an exhaustive list of
privacy-threatening options on Windows systems and immediately deactivate all
functions designed to collect personal information.
The program is really very simple to use, it allows you to
deactivate only the safe entries (in addition to immediately deactivating all
the existing entries), it offers a backup of the settings before modifications
and it is portable: it can therefore be installed on a USB stick and used on
all the computers on which we want to clear the activity history.
Conclusions
If we care particularly about the privacy of our computer, Windows 11 and Windows 10 are decidedly "spy" compared to older operating systems; This doesn't mean we shouldn't use Microsoft systems anymore! In fact, we can delete the entire activity history by following the instructions above to the letter and, if we are really lazy, use an app to delete all the entries that allow Windows to collect personal data.
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