Now that you know that you can access your computer’s usage information, you must know that this means that someone can access your usage information and see how you have been using your device as well. If you would like to remove traces of your usage information so that anyone else that knows how to access this information does not see your usage activity, you can go about removing that too. That is another thing that we will be breaking down further in this article step by step. We will teach you how to keep tabs on device usage and how to be one step ahead in protecting your own privacy when it comes to device usage history on Windows PC devices.
Checking Usage History
To check your Windows PC’s usage history, carry out the following steps: For further details, carry out the following steps:
Removing Traces Of Usage History
If you would like to remove traces of your usage history from the event viewer logs shown above, you can carry out the following steps: If anyone were to enter the Event Viewer application and try to scavenge your system logs, they would not be able to find any information from here after your logs are cleared. However, clearing logs does not remove complete traces of your usage activity. Windows tends to keep tabs on what you are doing, which applications you are using, and what your preferences are so that it can recommend those in quick access areas. These preferences can be seen to gauge your usage history. For example, if you access a particular file often, it will come up in the recommendations in your Windows File Explorer under recently viewed files. If you would like to hide this trace and other such traces of your applications and general computer usage, carry out the following steps:
To Clear your Application Usage History:The Task Manager Showing Application Usage & The Option To Delete App Usage Data.
To Clear your File Usage History in the Windows File Explorer:Accessing Folder Options To Wipe File and Folder Usage History.Launch the File Explorer application. You can search for this in the search bar at the bottom left of your screen.Click on “View” at the top application ribbon.Click on “Options” in the right side of this bar. This will open up folder options.Folder Properties Window.Click on the “General” tab. In the “Privacy” section, untick “Show recently used files in Quick Access” and “Show frequently used folders in Quick Access” to stop Quick Access from keeping tabs on your file access activity and displaying it. To clear the preferences stored up until now, click on the “Clear” button in this section. Click “Ok” and exit the file properties dialogue box to implement these changes. They will be effective immediately.To Clear your Start Menu Search History:Accessing Cortana’s Settings To Wipe Search History.Click on the round ring beside the search bar. This is the Cortana assistant’s button. In the left panel of this menu, click on the gear icon to access its settings.In the Cortana settings, click on “Permissions & History” and disable device history to prevent further recording if you would like. To clear the history saved up until this point, click on “Clear my device history.”
Final Thoughts
Your Windows PC stores a lot of information on your usage and preferences to tailor your experience and make it seamless based on your clicks, decisions, choices, and activity. To view general computer usage information, you can head into your system logs via the Event Viewer or take a look at system boot up from the command prompt. To clear the detailed system logs in the Event Viewer, you can access the clear logs option from within the application as well. Beyond this, Windows keeps track of the files and folders you open, the things you search for in the start menu, and your app usage history. The procedures outlined above discuss how to clear these traces. You can also clear browser search history for your particular browser but with these tips above, you’ll clear your Windows Operating System of your traces properly.
