This article was written by Luigi Oppido and by How.com.vn staff writer, Jack Lloyd. Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.
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This How.com.vn teaches you how to delete your computer's file history, which includes things like recently viewed files and search suggestions. You can do this on both Windows and Mac computers. To clear web-based history, you'll need to delete your browsing history from within your browser's settings.
Steps
- Click Cortana's Search box. It's on the left side of the taskbar, just right of the Windows logo. Doing so prompts the Cortana window to open.
- If you don't have this option: right-click the taskbar, select Cortana, and click Show search box.
- Click Settings . It's on the left side of the Cortana window. This will open Cortana's settings in the window.Advertisement
- Scroll down and click Clear my device history. It's below the "My device history" heading. Doing so clears your on-device search history.
- Click Search history settings. This link is below the "My search history" heading. Clicking this link opens a Bing page with all of your searches listed in chronological order.
- If you aren't connected to the Internet, you won't be able to access this page.
- Click CHANGE HISTORY SETTINGS. This heading is toward the top of the Bing page. A menu will appear beneath it.
- Click Clear all. It's in the "Clear search history" section of the menu.
- Click Yes when prompted. Doing so will clear Cortana's search history entirely, both locally and online.
- Click View. It's a tab in the top-left side of the File Explorer window. A menu will appear below the View tab.
- Click Options. It's a box-shaped icon on the far-right side of the View menu.
- Click the General tab. It's in the upper-left corner of the Folder Options window.
- Click Clear. This option is in the "Privacy" section toward the bottom of the window. Doing so will remove your recent searches from the File Explorer.
- If you pinned any folders or files to the File Explorer, they won't be cleared.
- Hide your future search history. Uncheck both the Show recently used files in Quick Access and Show recently used folders in Quick Access boxes in the "Privacy" section. While optional, doing this will prevent searched items from appearing in the File Explorer search bar.
- Click OK. It's at the bottom of the Folder Options window. Your File Explorer history should now be clear.
- Open Finder. It's a blue, face-like app in your Mac's Dock.
- You can also just click your desktop.
- Click Go. This menu item is on the left half of your Mac's menu bar, which is at the top of the screen. Clicking Go prompts a drop-down menu.
- Select Recent Files. It's at the bottom of the Go drop-down menu. A pop-out window will appear to the right of Recent Files with a list of your recently opened folders.
- Click Clear Menu. You'll see this button at the bottom of the pop-out menu. This will clear the list of recently visited folders.
Expert Q&A
- QuestionDo you have to delete your browser history?Luigi OppidoLuigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.
Computer & Tech SpecialistNot at all—it's all personal preference. Deleting your browser history can be good when you're using a public computer (or a device that isn't yours, like a friend's computer) so no one knows what you were doing. Still, your browser history is no big deal on your personal computer since it doesn't take up a lot of space. - QuestionHow can a user know what I watched?Community AnswerThey can't if you clear your history.
- QuestionHow do you clear just a single search term you have used in the past?Community AnswerIf you are using Google Chrome, press the three dots in the top left corner and open the history tab, then select the searches you want to be deleted and press delete.
Tips
- You can download a file manager like TinkerTool System to manage all of your recent items on Mac.Thanks
Warnings
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