If we use a Windows 10 computer, surely we know that the Microsoft operating system is responsible for storing a large amount of information about our uses and activities, from location information to browsing history. All the information it collects is stored in a cloud, so we will not be able to delete it, even if we delete it and reinstall it. Therefore, today we are going to see how we can see and delete all the activity history of Windows 10.
What Information Microsoft Collects About Us
Windows 10 is in charge of compiling an “activity history” with all the applications that we use with our computer and then sending them to Microsoft. This data is allegedly used to provide relevant results and content that Microsoft believes may be useful to us.
Data collected by Microsoft from our activity with Windows 10 includes:
- Using Windows 10 for the timeline function.
- Data of our location.
- Cortana’s voice commands.
- Web browsing history.
- Bing search history.
How to view all Windows 10 activity history
If we want to see all the activity history that Windows 10 has collected about us, we can do it by accessing the privacy website of our Microsoft account . From here we can see a series of categories where it will show us all the information that Microsoft has been collecting:
- Browsing history : It handles all the data stored by browsing in Edge, so if it is our main browser, it is likely that we will find enough data here. It can be viewed and deleted.
- Search history : only contains information if we use Bing as a search engine, so it uses our data to obtain better search results. It can be viewed and deleted.
- Location activity : collects all the information every time we have allowed Windows to access our location. It can be viewed and deleted.
- Voice Activity : All saved clips are stored here every time we have used Cortana’s voice command, which Microsoft uses to improve voice recognition. You can see and delete
- Multimedia activity : with this activity Microsoft maintains control of everything we enjoy watching to follow our recommendations. It can be viewed and deleted.
- Activity and performance of products and services : from here we can see how Microsoft products are used, with activities related to the actions we have taken and performance for system logs. It can be viewed and deleted.
- Cortana’s notebook : this is where Cortana keeps all the records, so if we use it frequently we will find enough stored data. It can be viewed and deleted.
Delete Activity History from Windows 10
As I have seen, from our Microsoft account it is possible to see and delete the activity that we have registered in each of the categories. This is something that we can do from Windows 10 without having to log in to Microsoft.
For this we must access the Configuration menu, pressing the keyboard shortcut “Windows + I”. Later we select “Privacy” and here click on the “Activity History”. If we go down the page we will find the option to “Show the activities of these accounts. Here we will see the “Clear activity history” section, so we will click on the “Clear” button. In this way we will erase all the activity history of the account we are currently using.
Disable the timeline
The timeline for Windows is a timeline where you can go see the web, documents and applications we have used in the last 30 days. This function was added by Microsoft in 2018 and it is synchronized between all our devices, so if we do not want Windows to store all our activity, we must disable it .
To do this, we must access the Windows 10 Configuration menu, for which we will press the keyboard shortcut “Windows + I”. Now we will access the “Privacy” section and here we will click on “Activity history”. Now we must uncheck the boxes for “Store my activity history on this computer” and “Send my activity history to Microsoft”. In this way we will prevent Windows from remembering what we did in its timeline, so we will notice a lack of monitoring of our activity from now on.
Maintain your privacy while using the operating system
Windows 10 has never been considered an operating system that watches over our privacy, something that has earned it to get countless criticisms about it. If privacy is a big deal to us, chances are we may be uncomfortable while using Microsoft’s operating system.
Therefore, it is recommended to be alert for the configuration of the operating system , from the options that we have configuration during the initial configuration to the installation of all kinds of third-party tools that can control everything. That is why, Windows 10 is not the best option to defend our privacy, but now we already know all the data that Microsoft handles about us and how we can erase it.
