How to find recent documents on your computer: tips and tricks.  Ways to see the latest actions on the computer through the system or browser How to remove recently added to windows 10

How to find recent documents on your computer: tips and tricks. Ways to see the latest actions on the computer through the system or browser How to remove recently added to windows 10

Users of the Windows 10 operating system have the ability to view recently opened files using File Explorer and Explorer History. And also in the latest updates to the Windows 10 operating system, the timeline has become available to users. With the help of the timeline, you can already specifically see when and which file was used.

In this article, we will consider not only how to view recently opened Windows files 10, but also how to disable recently used files and frequently used folders in File Explorer. We recommend that you pay attention to the item on how to turn off the timeline in Windows 10. And there is also an option to open the recent documents folder, which very few people also know about.

You can view recently opened files on a computer running Windows 10 in a variety of ways. New to users is the option to use the timeline, which was introduced in the latest update.

Recent files and frequently used folders

The current opportunity has been around for a long time. The bottom line is that the explorer displays Latest files and Frequently used folders in the tab Fast access... This functionality is useful because even a beginner can quickly find the latest file.

Timeline

Not so long ago, it became possible to use multiple desktops, followed by a timeline. In order to view recently opened files in Windows 10 using the timeline, you must press the key combination Win + Tab and scroll down the current page. On the right, the user has access to the actual timeline with specific dates, and on the left, you can find recently opened files.

Recent documents

To view recent documents in Windows 10, you must press the key combination Win + R and in the window that opens, execute the command shell: recent... In principle, you can find recent documents in the system yourself. To do this, the first thing is to, and then follow the path: C: \ Users \ UserName \ AppData \ Roaming \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Recent.

If you only want to clear recently used files and frequently used folders, you need to in the window Folders settings in the tab General push the button Clear opposite the inscription Clear explorer log.

The timeline is a new element of the Windows 10 system, so it is configured with the updated system settings.


The current changes will not clear the timeline in any way, but will only prevent the collection of your actions on the computer. To clear the current timeline, you need to follow the path: Options> Privacy> Activity Log push the button Clear In chapter Cleaning activity log.

conclusions

This article shows you how to view recently opened files in Windows 10. We've covered where and how to find recent files, frequently used files, timeline, and recent documents. We also considered how to clear the last used files and, if necessary, completely disable their display.

In Windows 10, when a user launches Windows Explorer, the Panel quick access»(Or Quick Access), which contains a list of recent files and frequently used folders. If this change is annoying for you, here's a guide to turn off Frequent Folders and Recent Files in the Quick Access Toolbar.

Open an explorer window and go to the "View" tab. Click on the "Options" button, and then select "Change folder and search options."

This will take you to the preferences window for all Windows Explorer folders. At the bottom of the window (under the General tab), you will see the Privacy section, which contains two options. One of them is responsible for showing recently used files in the Quick Access Toolbar, and the other is responsible for displaying the folders you visit most often. You can disable both of them or just one of them. You can also clear all history here if you want Windows 10 to start tracking files and folders from scratch.

After turning off both options, only pinned folders will remain on the Quick Access Toolbar.

If you want the operating system to continue to offer you quick access to frequently used files and folders, but at the same time do not want certain folders or files to appear in Quick Access, you can manually remove them from there. To do this, right-click on the folder / file and select “Remove from Quick access” from the context menu.

The selected item will no longer appear on the Quick Access Toolbar no matter how often you use that file or folder.

Have a great day!

To track computer activity and track the causes of errors, Windows records the latest events and actions in the system. Using this function, you can see which applications have been installed on the system recently, when the last logon sessions were made, and what actions were performed.

You can view the latest actions on your computer using the browser history and the date of the last opening of some files. You can also view recent documents in the appropriate section of the Start menu.

Fast navigation through the article

Windows Journal

In order to view the latest events on a computer using the Windows log, you must:

  • Open the start menu.
  • Enter "View event logs" in the search bar.
  • Select the app of the same name in the search results.
  • Wait for the window to load and build the list of events.
  • Open the Windows Logs tab.
  • Open the required magazine double click and watch the events.

Recent documents

You can view recently opened files in the "Recent Documents" system menu. By default, this section is disabled in Windows system 7, but the user has the option to activate it. For this you need:

  • Right-click on the "Start" button.
  • Select the "Properties" item in the context menu.
  • Go to the "Start Menu" tab.
  • Click the "Configure" button.
  • Find the line "Recent documents" in the list and mark it with a tick.
  • Save changes by clicking "OK".

Browser history

To watch history open pages in the browser you need:

  • Launch a web browser.
  • Press the key combination "Ctrl" + "H".
  • Select, if necessary, the period of the displayed history.
  • View open sites and the date the page was visited.

File open date

By using standard tools Windows operating system, you can see the date of the last file opening. To do this, you should:

  • Right click on the file.
  • Select the "Properties" item in the menu that appears.
  • On the "General" tab, see the date the file was opened.
  • Go to the "Details" tab and see the date when the file was saved or modified.

Today we have to figure out how to find recent documents on the computer. The point is that such an operation can be useful to everyone. For example, if a user suspects that someone is breaking into his operating system and working in it without permission. Keeping track of your browsing history and open / saved files is not an easy task. There are various ways to obtain information of interest to the user. We will focus exclusively on files that have been recently opened, modified or saved.

Windows 7

How do I find recent documents on my Windows 7 computer on board? It is a popular and user-friendly operating system. Many PC users work with it. And therefore, we will start solving the problem with this particular operating system.

There is a folder called Recent Documents. It displays files that have been saved, opened, or modified by the user. How do I find recent documents on my computer?

This will require:

  1. Go to Windows 7.
  2. Open "Start" - "Documents", or go to the menu item "Library" / "Explorer".
  3. Click on the "Recent Places" line in the top left menu.

That's all. Information about recent files appears on the right side of the dialog box. Fast, simple and very convenient!

Windows XP

How to find recent documents on a Windows XP computer? This operating system is rarely seen in real life today. The software has not been supported by Microsoft for a long time, but some people use it anyway.

To go to the folder with recent documents on Windows XP, you will have to use one of the following techniques:

  1. Go to "Start" and open the "Search" section. Set in search parameters "Display hidden files and folders. "Find the Recent section and open it.
  2. Go to C: / Documents and Settings / UserName / Recent.
  3. The specified folder is the recent locations. In order to find it, you will have to disable the function of hiding files and folders.

Important: when thinking about how to find recent documents, you can open the search box "Windows" and write "Recent Places" in it. The search result will be the section we need.

Windows 8

Modern operating systems are similar in functionality, but their graphical interface is always different. Sometimes he surprises. Significant changes in the operating system graphics took place in Windows 8. After the "seven" it takes a long time to get used to the new version software... In such an environment, users often have questions about how to find recent documents on their computer. "Windows 8" stores the corresponding data in the folder we already know - Recent. Only it, unlike Windows XP, has been moved to a different root partition.

How can I find recent documents on the computer in this case? Windows 8 offers a solution to this problem:

  1. Open command line and write shell: recent there. After processing the request, a dialog box with the data of interest will appear on the screen.
  2. Go to C: / Users / username / Appdata / Roaming / Microsoft / Windows / Recent.

Alternatively, you can use the search bar to find the Recent Places service. As practice shows, this technique is used by novice PC users quite often. It does not require any special skills, knowledge and skills.

Tip: For quick access to the Recent folder, you can create a shortcut to the corresponding document store and bring it to your PC desktop.

Windows 10

These are not all the existing techniques. How do I find recent documents on my computer in Windows 10? The tenth version of Windows is currently actively supported by Microsoft. This is the operating system that all modern PC users face. And so you need to understand how to work with it. Recent documents and changed files in the Top Ten are searched for in the same way as in the case of Windows 8. If you wish, you can simplify your task - fix the corresponding section in the library.

For this you need:

  1. Go to the Recent folder (or "Recent Documents") using the previously specified path.
  2. Click on the "Pin to Quick Access Toolbar" button. The corresponding control is at the top of the dialog box.

It is done. Now when opening "Explorer" the user will see a new line in the left menu. It's called Recent Documents. With its help, you will be able to quickly view the last opened or modified files on your computer.

Last saved files

We were introduced to the search for recent documents in the Windows operating system. The instructions provided will help you cope with the task in any version of the software. But that's not all that every modern user should know about. Sometimes you have to search for the last saved documents in various applications. For example, in Microsoft Office utilities or Photoshop. How can I get the relevant information? Naturally, find recent documents on your computer.

The instructions for finding the last saved files in a particular application as a whole looks like this:

  1. Open the program you want to work with.
  2. Go to the "File" section. It is usually located in the upper left corner. Sometimes the corresponding item is called "Browse" or simply "Menu".
  3. Look at the list that appears. If there is an arrow at the bottom of the drop-down menu, you need to click on it.
  4. Carefully study the numbered list with addresses and files. These are the last saved / modified documents.

To open them, just click with the mouse cursor on one or another line. There is nothing difficult or incomprehensible. Some programs have separate sections like Recently Opened or Recently Saved. You can find them using the functional menu of a particular utility.

Conclusion

We figured out how to find recent documents on the computer in one way or another. The instructions provided will help you cope with the task at hand without much hassle. If you want to examine a list of recent browser downloads, you can open the library and go to the Downloads section. By setting the sorting parameters, the user will be able to see the information of interest.

Lists open files and connected by USB devices, browser history, DNS cache - all this helps to find out what the user was doing. We have compiled step by step instructions how to remove traces of your activity in different versions of Windows, Office and popular browsers. At the end of the article, you will find several scripts to help you automatically keep your machine clean.

1. Clearing lists of recent places and programs

Let's start by cleaning up the list of recent places and programs. The list of recent (in Windows 10 - frequently used) programs is in the main menu, and the list of recent places is in Explorer.


How to turn off this mess? In Windows 7 - right-click on the "Start" button, select "Properties" and in the window that appears, uncheck both checkboxes in the "Privacy" section.

To clear the list of recent locations and documents, you need to delete the contents of the% appdata% \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Recent directory. To do this, open a command prompt and run two commands:

Cd% appdata% \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Recent echo y | del *. *

It also doesn't hurt to delete the contents of the% appdata% \ microsoft \ windows \ recent \ automaticdestinations \ directory. It contains the latest files that appear in the jump list:

Cd% appdata% \ microsoft \ windows \ recent \ automaticdestinations \ echo y | del *. *

To automatically clear recent files on exit, you must enable the "Clear recently opened documents log on exit" policy, which is located under User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Start Menu and Taskbar.

Now let's move on to Windows 10. You can turn off the list of recently added and frequently used applications through the "Options" window. Open it and go to the "Personalization" section, the "Start" item. Disconnect everything that is there.


It seems that the problem has been solved, but alas, this is not entirely true. If you enable these parameters again, then all lists with the same composition will appear again. Therefore, you will have to disable this feature through Group Policy. Open gpedit.msc and go to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Start Menu and Taskbar. Include the following policies:

  • "Clearing the list of recently used programs for new users";
  • "Clear the log of recently opened documents on exit";
  • "Clear tile notification log on exit";
  • Delete the list of programs pinned to the Start menu.

Clearing recent places in Windows 10 is easier than in the "seven". Open Explorer, go to the "View" tab and click the "Options" button. In the window that appears, turn off the options "Show recently used files on the Quick Access Toolbar" and "Show frequently used folders on the Quick Access Toolbar." Don't forget to press the "Clear" button.

As you can see, a simple task like clearing the last objects has a rather tricky solution. No editing group policies- nowhere.

2. Clearing the list of USB drives

At some secure facilities, only flash drives registered in the journal are allowed to be connected to the computer. Moreover, as usual, the magazine is the most ordinary one - paper. That is, the computer itself does not restrict the connection of unregistered drives in any way. Doesn't limit, but records! And if, during the check, they find that the user has connected unregistered drives, he will have problems.

We are by no means advising you to try to steal military secrets, but the ability to clear the list of recently connected drives can be useful in other life situations as well. To do this, look at the following registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Enum \ USBSTOR \ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Enum \ USB \

Here they are - all the drives that you connected to your computer.


It would seem that you just need to take and clean everything. But it was not there! First, the permissions for these registry branches are set in such a way that you will not delete anything even in the "seven", let alone the "ten".


Secondly, it takes a long time to assign rights and permissions manually, especially if there are a lot of drives. Thirdly, admin rights will not help. The screenshot above was created when I was performing the delete operation with admin rights. Fourth, in addition to these two sections, there is a long list of sections to clean up. Moreover, they need not only be deleted, but competently edited.

If for some reason you need to do everything manually, then search for the keywords MountPoints, MountedDevices DeviceClasses and RemovableMedia. But it's much easier to use a ready-made program that will do everything for you. Some forums recommend USBDeview for this. However, I tested it and I declare that it does not clear information from all the necessary sections. USBSTOR and USB continue to contain information about the connected media.

I can recommend the program. Run it, check the "Perform real cleaning" checkbox. You can enable the "Save .reg undo file" parameter or not, but if the goal is not to check the program, but to prepare for the upcoming computer inspection, then it is better to turn it off.


The program not only cleans the registry, but also displays a detailed log of its actions (see below). When it finishes working, there will be no mention of connecting drives to your computer.


3. Clearing cache and browser history

The third point in our tudu is clearing the cache and browser log. There are no difficulties here - each browser allows you to reset the list of recently visited sites.

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