Thursday, June 29, 2023 – Why you shouldn’t send suspicious files to the Recycle Bin – How to remove recently opened files from the Windows Start menu

Does your family (or group) have a Windows PC that everyone uses from time to time?

If so, you’ve probably noticed how the Start menu displays a list of files that have been opened recently by someone in the household (or group).

If you’d prefer not having other family/group members see which files you’ve been working on (and vice versa), a simple Settings change will prevent them from being displayed on the Start menu, in File Explorer and on Jump Lists.

Just follow the steps below for your version of Windows.

If your PC has Windows 11:

1 – Right-click on the Start button, then select Settings from the menu.

2 – In the left-hand pane, click Personalization.

3 – In the right-hand pane, click Start.

4 – Toggle the ‘Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists and File Explorer‘ setting to Off.

If your PC has Windows 10:

1 – Right-click on the Start button, then select Settings from the menu.

2 – Click Personalization.

3 – In the left-hand pane, click Start.

4 – Toggle the ‘Show recently opened items in Jump Lists on Start or the taskbar and in File Explorer Quick Access‘ setting to Off.

That’s all there is to it. From now on the person using this PC won’t see a list of the files that another family/group member was recently using.

Important: This settings change isn’t a fool-proof privacy measure. Any users with access to the same user account will be able to “find” any files that are stored on the system by using File Explorer to navigate to them.

All this settings change does is prevent the list of recently used files from appearing on the Start Menu and the other places mentioned above. Therefore, if your family (or group) is really concerned about privacy I recommend that you create a dedicated user account for each user and have each person assign a log-in password to their account.

Tech news that caught my eye…

• iPhone 15 production will kick off early to tackle high demand

• Deepfake software fools voice authentication with 99% success rate

• Microsoft launches Win32 app isolation for enhanced Windows security

• US fears AI chips could slip into the hands of China following Nvidia export restrictions

• Microsoft fixes Windows bug causing File Explorer freezes

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Your tech buddy,

Rick Rouse
https://www.RicksDailyTips.com