How to clear history on a computer in Windows

When working in the Windows operating system, a history of user actions in different situations is stored on the computer. This information stores various aspects of the activity, including those affecting the privacy and confidentiality of the PC owner.

Taking into account these circumstances, we will analyze the question of how to delete history on a computer running the Windows operating system. What to do to clear the OS of unnecessary information.

By history, users mean various saved data: for some, this is the history of visited pages on the Internet, but this is not all information about user actions. We must not forget that the system keeps a record of various user actions on the computer.

A lot of different data is stored on the PC, for example, the search history on the computer, information about recently opened files, lists of visited sites in the browser, etc. This information is stored in different places in the Windows operating system.

In some cases, storing such information on a computer is undesirable if the user needs to protect private data from outsiders or hide confidential information.

The history of user actions on the computer is located in the following places:

• Browser history – history of visited web pages, search engine history, logins, passwords, autofill forms, etc.
• Windows search history.
• Information about the date the files were modified.
• Data on the date of launch of programs.
• Registration of events in the Windows Logs about actions, errors, warnings.
• Binding a task to an event in the Task Scheduler.

Taking into account the above information, users have questions about how to clear the history on a computer.

How to clear browser history on a computer

Most users are concerned about the stored information about their activity on the Internet. This data can be obtained by strangers if they have access to the device. Therefore, the question of how to clear the browsing history of web pages on a computer is relevant.

In a specific browser, depending on the interface of the program, you will need to perform certain actions to clear the application of the required information.

In general, access to the browser history will appear if, in an open Internet browser window, simultaneously press the “Ctrl” + “Shift” + “Del” keys. In the window that opens, delete unnecessary information.

About what specific actions you need to perform in the most popular browsers, read the detailed article on my website.

Another point that interests users is how to delete the query history on a computer. To search for the necessary information on the Internet, the browser interacts with the search engine. You can solve this problem in the settings of the Yandex search engine or from your Google account.

How to clear Windows search history on a computer

The Windows operating system has a built-in search service – Windows Search, with which you can find files, programs, run system tools or applications. Windows Search saves user queries because it makes it faster and easier to access the data you need.

Do the following:

1. Press the “Win” + “I” keys.
2. In the Settings app window, open Search.
3. In the “Permissions and History” tab, in the “History” section, click on the “Clear device search history” button.

This section contains additional settings. Change them if necessary.

You can choose the following privacy options regarding search:

• Prevent Windows Search from providing information from applications and services.
• Disable “Search History” on this device.
• Delete data from the “Cloud search history” (you will need to sign in to your Microsoft account).
• Disable query suggestions from Bing Internet search.

Advanced users can use another method to turn off search query history. This will require executing the command on the command line:

reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" /v "DeviceHistoryEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

History of recent files in File Explorer

The system file manager – Windows Explorer saves information about used folders and files. In some cases, it is better for the user to hide such information.

Go through the steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Enter the “View” tab.
3. On the toolbar, click the Options button.
4. From the Folder Options window, go to the General tab.
5. In the “Privacy” section, in the “Clear explorer history” option, click on the “Clear” button.

If necessary, make additional settings that affect privacy:

1. In the “Privacy” parameter, uncheck the boxes:

• Show recently used files in the Quick Access Toolbar.
• Show frequently used folders on the Quick Access Toolbar.

2. In the “Open File Explorer For:” option, select “This PC”.
3. Click on the “OK” button.

Thanks to these settings, frequently used folders and recent files will be hidden when you start File Explorer.

To disable saving the history of the list of recent files, run two commands in sequence from the command line:

reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer" /v "ShowRecent" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory" /v "Disabled" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Disabling the history of applications is performed from the console using the command:

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy" /v "LetAppsAccessCallHistory" /t REG_DWORD

Clearing data in CCleaner

The user has the ability to remove unnecessary data from the Windows operating system and installed applications using specialized optimizer programs to clean the computer.

In this article, we will look at the free CCleaner program, the most popular tool among users without complicated settings. Of course, there are more advanced programs that you can use to more thoroughly remove traces of your activities from history.

You will need to do the following:

1. Launch CCleaner on your computer.
2. In the main program window, open the “Standard cleaning” section.
3. In the “Windows” and “Applications” tabs, by default, many items have already been marked regarding the storage of history in installed browsers, operating systems and programs.
4. Click on the “Analyze” button.
5. After the PC scan is completed, click on the “Clean” button to remove unnecessary data.

Article Conclusions

In the Windows operating system, in Internet browsers, in logs, information about the history of user actions on the computer is stored. For example, the history of visited sites, the display of recently used files in Explorer, saved search queries.

Due to privacy concerns, some users may need to delete search related logs. This can be done from the system settings, from browsers, or using third-party cleaners.