How To Clear History On Windows 11: A Step-by-Step Guide

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6 min. read

Published on October 22, 2025

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Maintaining your privacy and keeping your system running smoothly often involves clearing your browsing and activity history on Windows 11. This process removes traces of your online activities, recent files, and other data, ensuring a cleaner and more secure computing experience. Whether you’re concerned about privacy or troubleshooting performance issues, understanding how to clear your history on Windows 11 is a valuable skill.

This guide provides a comprehensive, step-by-step walkthrough of the various methods you can use to clear different types of history on your Windows 11 system. From browser history to file explorer history, and even your search history, we’ll cover everything you need to know to keep your digital footprint under control.

Want to Clear Your History on Windows 11?

Clearing Browser History (Edge, Chrome, Firefox)

Web browsers store a significant amount of data about your browsing activity, including visited websites, cookies, cached images, and more. Clearing this history is crucial for privacy.

Open your web browser. This could be Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or any other browser you use.
Access the history settings.

Edge: Click the three dots in the upper-right corner, then select “History” and click the three dots again, followed by “Clear browsing data.”
Chrome: Click the three dots in the upper-right corner, then select “History” and click “Clear browsing data.”
Firefox: Click the three horizontal lines in the upper-right corner, then select “History” and click “Clear Recent History.”

Choose the time range. Select a time range for which you want to clear the history (e.g., “Last hour,” “Last 24 hours,” “All time”).
Select the data types to clear. Check the boxes next to the types of data you want to remove, such as browsing history, cookies, cached images and files, and download history.
Click the “Clear” button. This will initiate the process of clearing the selected data.

Removing File Explorer History

File Explorer keeps track of the files and folders you’ve recently accessed. Clearing this history can help maintain privacy and declutter your Quick Access view.

Open File Explorer. Click the File Explorer icon on your taskbar or press Windows key + E.
Click the three dots at the top of the window and select Options. This opens the Folder Options dialog box.
In the General tab, find the “Privacy” section.
Click the “Clear” button next to “Clear File Explorer history.”
Click “OK” to close the Folder Options dialog box.

Deleting Search History

Windows 11 keeps track of your search queries, both in the Start Menu and within File Explorer. Clearing this history can prevent others from seeing what you’ve been searching for.

Open the Settings app. Press Windows key + I.
Click on “Privacy & security.”
Scroll down and click on “Search permissions.”
Under “History,” toggle the “Search history on this device” setting to “Off.” This will prevent future searches from being saved.
Click the “Clear device search history” button. This will delete your existing search history.

Clearing Run Dialog History

The Run dialog (accessed by pressing Windows key + R) stores a list of commands you’ve previously entered. Clearing this history can be useful for privacy.

Open the Registry Editor. Press Windows key + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
Navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU
In the right pane, you’ll see a list of entries named “MRUList” and “a,” “b,” “c,” etc. These represent the commands in your Run history.
To clear the history, delete all the values “a,” “b,” “c,” etc., but leave “MRUList.” Right-click on each value and select “Delete.”
Close the Registry Editor. The changes will take effect immediately.

Tips for Managing Your History

Use Private Browsing: Most browsers offer a private browsing mode (e.g., Incognito mode in Chrome, InPrivate Browsing in Edge) that doesn’t save your browsing history, cookies, or temporary files.
Regularly Clear History: Make it a habit to clear your history periodically to maintain privacy and improve system performance.
Customize History Settings: Explore the history settings in your browser and Windows to customize what data is saved and for how long.
Use a Privacy-Focused Browser: Consider using a browser designed with privacy in mind, such as Brave or DuckDuckGo, which offer built-in privacy features.

Comparison of Clearing Methods

History Type	Method	Privacy Impact	Performance Impact
Browser History	Access browser settings > Clear browsing data	Prevents others from seeing websites you’ve visited; removes cookies that track your online activity.	Can improve browser performance by removing cached files and freeing up storage space.
File Explorer History	Open File Explorer > Options > Clear File Explorer history	Prevents others from seeing recently accessed files and folders.	Can declutter Quick Access view and improve File Explorer responsiveness.
Search History	Open Settings > Privacy & security > Search permissions > Clear device search history	Prevents others from seeing your search queries on the device.	Minimal performance impact.
Run Dialog History	Open Registry Editor > Navigate to `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU` > Delete values “a,” “b,” etc.	Prevents others from seeing commands you’ve entered in the Run dialog.	Minimal performance impact.

Keeping Your Windows 11 Experience Private

Clearing your history on Windows 11 is a simple yet effective way to protect your privacy and maintain a clean and efficient system. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can easily manage your browsing, file, search, and run history, ensuring a more secure and private computing experience.

FAQ

How often should I clear my browsing history? It depends on your privacy needs. Some people clear it daily, while others do it weekly or monthly.

Does clearing my history delete my passwords? Not necessarily. Most browsers have a separate password manager. You need to specifically choose to clear saved passwords when clearing browsing data.

Will clearing my history speed up my computer? It can help, especially if you have a lot of cached data. Clearing cached files can free up storage space and improve browser performance.

Is it possible to recover deleted history? In most cases, no. Once you clear your history, it’s gone. However, some specialized data recovery tools might be able to recover some data, but it’s not guaranteed.

Does clearing my history affect my online accounts? Clearing cookies will log you out of websites, so you’ll need to log back in. It doesn’t affect your actual accounts.