HTTP Error 500 – Edge Installation or Update

If you suddenly get a message telling you that “Your Windows license will expire soon, You need to activate Windows in Settings” on your Windows 10 computer but you know that your Windows 10 is already activated. Worry not for this post will help you get rid of that error message right away. Before you get started, make sure that you have the Windows product key with you. If you don’t, you can get it by running the following command in an elevated Command Prompt:

wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey

Take note of the product key and then proceed to the options given below.

Option 1 – Try activating Windows 10 again or use another product key

• If you’re sure that you have the correct product key, click the Go to the Settings button.
• After that, click the Activate button once again.
• If you have another license key, you can also use that as well, just simply click on the Change product key.
• Then enter the new product key and click on Activate. That should fix the problem, if it doesn’t, refer to the next option below.

Option 2 – Try to reset the licensing status

• Click the Start button and then type “cmd” in the Search box and then tap Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open an elevated Command Prompt.
• Next, type the “slmgr –rearm” and hit Enter to reset the licensing status.
• Restart your computer and check if the error is now gone or not.

Option 3 – Try uninstalling the product key and re-enter it once more.

• The first thing you have to do to uninstall the product key is to know the Activation ID of your Windows installation. To do so, open an elevated Command Prompt and type this command, and hit Enter – vbs /dlv
• After you enter the command, you should see the licensing status and Activation ID. And to get all the Activation IDs of all the installed Windows versions, key in this command and hit Enter – vbs /dlv all

Note: The “/dlv” parameter will give you the license information for the installed operating system.

• After you enter the second command, you should see a Windows Script Host window with all the Windows licensing and activation status. Take note of the Activation ID.
• Next, in the same elevated Command Prompt, type this command – slmgr /upk <Activation ID>

Note: In the third given command, “/upk” stands for “uninstall product key”. This parameter uninstalls the product key of the current Windows edition.

• Restart your PC. After that, your computer will be in an unlicensed state so you need to re-enter the product key again.

Option 4 – Try rebuilding the Tokens.dat file.

The issue might be caused by a corrupted Tokens.dat file. The Tokens.dat file is a digitally signed file that stores most of the Windows Activation files so if it is corrupted then no wonder you’re having activation issues. To rebuild the Tokens.dat file, refer to these steps:

• From the WinX Menu, open an elevated Command Prompt.
• After opening Command Prompt, you need to type each one of the following commands and after you type each command, hit Enter.
  • net stop sppsvc
  • cd %windir%ServiceProfilesLocalServiceAppDataLocalMicrosoftWSLicense
  • ren tokens.dat tokens.bar
  • net start sppsvc
  • exe %windir%system32slmgr.vbs /rilc
• Now restart your computer.

Option 5 – Try running the Windows 10 Activation Troubleshooter

• Go to Settings and then select Activation.
• After that, click on the Windows Activation and then troubleshoot. This will help you address most of the commonly found activation issues in Windows devices.

Option 6 – Try activating Windows 10 via mobile phone

Activating Windows 10 can also be done using your phone. Just note that you have to call Microsoft to do so.

• In the Start Search box, type in “Slui 4” and tap Enter.
• Next, select your country and click on Next.
• Keep the window open and call the toll-free number of the country you’re from.
• Afterward, a confirmation ID should be given by the automated system which you must take a note of.
• Finally, in the box on the window, type in the confirmation ID and click on the Activate button. That should do it.

In case you don’t know, Windows now comes with an all-new Light Mode theme which gives a light accent color to the Taskbar, Start, and Notification Area. Aside from that, it also brings new improvements and features. This new theme is somewhere between dark and completely white and in this post, you will be guided on how you can enable this new feature in your Windows 10 computer. Although the Light Mode sure looks stunning and a lot of users love it, it actually switches all the apps plus the Taskbar and Start Menu to the light mode which was not the case before. In addition, the icons in the system tray area, as well as the notification center, are also inverted. To resolve that, there are several ways you can customize the light mode theme as well as activate it in the Windows 10 v1903. How? Refer to each one of the options given below.

Option 1 – Via Theme settings

Windows 10 brought a new theme called “Windows (Light)” which will enable the light mode automatically and will set the accent colors to automatic. This will also apply the new Windows 10 wallpaper on your desktop. To enable Windows (Light), all you have to do is right-click on the desktop and select Themes from the left menu. After that, select the Windows (Light) option under the Change Themes section. This will apply to the Windows (Light) mode.

Option 2 – Via Color settings

The second and more customizable way to activate the light mode is via Settings. Aside from the Light and Dark, Windows also introduced a Custom color option which allows you to decide the default Windows and App mode independently. To enable Light mode via Settings, refer to the steps below.

• First, open Settings and go to Personalization.
• After that, select “Colours” from the left menu.
• Next, select Light under the “Choose your color” section to activate the light mode in Windows 10. This will activate light mode all over your computer.

Note: If after activating light mode, you find that you don’t like it and you want to keep things as they were before (Light App Mode and Dark Windows Mode), you can achieve that using the Custom option. All you have to do is select Custom from the drop-down menu to decide the default Windows and app mode independently. After that, select light under the default app mode and dark under the default Windows mode so that you can keep things as they were before the update. On the other hand, you can also try the opposite version of the light Windows mode and Dark app mode since Windows increased the level of customizability which allows users to use an option of a completely light mode.

Spring is almost here and with spring comes work, nature wakes up, people wake up, no more heating bills, time to start working, and time to start cleaning your PC. Good day everyone and welcome to another tip & trick for your PC. This time we are talking about cleaning your PC and keeping it up to software tight so you are ready for the upcoming spring season. Thank you for being with us and let's start:

Uninstall applications that you are not using

The unused applications can cause many issues for PC, from taking unnecessary disk space to even causing slower boot times if they have active services that require to be all-time up and running. They could slow down other applications like file explorer if they have extensions installed into them and can take RAM space with their background processes. If you are not using a particular application anymore or do not plan to use it soon it is always best practice to delete it from the system and thus removing all services and processes that go with it freeing so much-needed RAM and disc space.

Remove browser extensions you do not need

Browser extensions like applications can cause some issues with PC performance. if you spend a lot of time on the internet browser extensions can slow down browser and page loadings, they can make browsers take up more RAM memory and if they are outdated they could even present a serious security threat. Best practices are to keep only the extensions that you need all time, maybe some password managers or similar, extensions that you use on a daily basis, the rest should be uninstalled.

Remove things from the startup

Many services are booted along with Windows itself, some of them are crucial to the system even working, some not so. By eliminating not-needed services from the startup menu you will make sure that your boot times and overall performance of the system are in healthy form and that your PC is more responsive.

Organize files, folders, and desktop

The speeding of computer is not the only thing that you need to take care of, in order to be prepared and have maximum efficiency you will need to organize your files and folders as well. In a working environment, we often tend to save and place files all over the place, and in time they clog up desktop and hard drives. If the files are not well organized we will lose precious time trying to find anything that we need and require, so instead of wasting your time in locating files, why not organize them for easy and logical search so you can access them easily when needed.

Clean taskbar and start menu

Taskbar and start menu as well can be clogged with icons and non-organized application shortcuts and document shortcuts. Remove everything you do not need for that tidy and easily accessible access.

Sort bookmarks

It is very likely that you have plenty of bookmarks saved in our browser. It is also very likely that these bookmarks are not sorted and organized and now would be a great time to do it. Like files bookmarks also can cause you a lot of time loss if you need to find a specific one in a sea of many.

Run disc cleanup

Built-in disc cleanup utility will find temporary files, unused ones, and plenty of other junk on your hard drive. Now would be a great time to run it and get rid of junk files from your system.

Physically clean your computer

Now when we have taken care of the software part of our computer and system, it is time to clean up the computer itself. Unplug your computer and clean it, we will not go into details of this procedure, there is already an article on our site which deals with this part in detail so look it up if you need assistance with this part.

Clean your peripherals

Besides the computer for effective and pleasant work take care of your screen, keyboard, mouse, printer, etc. All of these devices need to be dust-free and clean if you expect them to behave on top of their game. If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit errortools.com daily.

In case you don’t know, Microsoft has included an Enhanced Search Mode in the new Windows 10 v1903. This new Enhanced Search mode, compared to the Classic Mode, indexes everything on your Windows 10 computer, and in this post you will be guided on how you can disable this new feature as well as discuss how it is different from the Classic Search mode. Over the years, the Windows 10 Start Search has changed. When you tap the Start button and when you type, the results that appear are categorized into Apps, Documents, Email, Web, Folders, Music, People, Photos, Settings, Videos, and many more. This is the reason why the Enhanced Mode was brought into the picture. So unless everything is indexed, this new feature wouldn’t be of much use. A Classic Search is the term used for the old search technique in Windows 10. The Classic Search mode is restricted to Libraries and Desktop and end-users can only select to customize the search location by adding them manually to the indexer. To simply put it, it would only index files and folders which you want to get indexed and if the search term is not in the index, it would initiate the regular search which would take quite a while and this is where the Enhanced Windows Search comes in. It indexes everything as it is its default nature which is the exact opposite of the Classic Search mode. This feature allows you to exclude folders where the Search will not look and index anything that could be personal to you. In addition, it can also impact the life of the battery of laptops, if you are using one. The initial crawl of your data will take place only when connected to power and during that time, both the CPU usage and battery will take a bit of a hit.

To enable the Enhanced Search Mode in your Windows 10 computer, here’s what you have to do:

Step 1: Go to Settings > Search > Searching Windows. Step 2: Next, click on the radio button for Enhanced. Step 3: After that, select the folders which the Windows Indexer should exclude from the Enhanced Search mode. And that’s about it. The next time you search anything on your computer, Windows will be looking at all the locations except for the ones you excluded and the results will be a lot faster compared to the Classic Search. Now that you’ve enabled the Enhanced Search mode, there are two settings you need to check out.

• Advanced Search Indexer Settings – this setting allows you to configure how or where Windows will search or what file types it will search in your computer. It will also open the same setting that’s available in the Classic Search.
• Run the Indexing Troubleshooter – when you click on the Indexing Troubleshooter, it will start to troubleshoot any Search and Indexing issues on your Windows 10 computer and fix them automatically.

If you are a person which spends a lot of time in front of the computer doing work, then you are aware of the importance of having a proper backup of your archive so if anything bad happens you will lose almost none of the work. We can never tell when we might experience HDD failures or when we might be a victim of cyber attacks, natural disasters,s and other unpredictable circumstances where we could lose all of our data in a matter of minutes. Having a backup of our data is very important but sometimes we are too busy or not around and we miss that data backup we wanted to do, and if in this case disaster strikes we are out of luck and data is lost. To avoid such circumstances, you can set up automatic Windows Backups at a scheduled time. This way it will help to have the loss of important files and documents from unexpected hazards. in order to create automatic backups of your files, you have several options, and below we will explore each one in hopes that you will find one that best suits your needs.

1. Create automatic file backup with OneDrive

   This is probably the best way to do it because each time when you sign in OneDrive files get backed up right away, files are stored in the cloud and can be accessed on any device via a Microsoft account. To get started, open the Settings app first. Click on the Update & Security category Select the Backup tab from the left pane. Move to the right page and click on the Back up files button that is available under Back up files to OneDrive. Select the folders you want to backup in the cloud, and remove those ones you don’t want to backup. On the next page, click the Start backup button to start the procedure.

2. Create a backup using File History

   File History is an inbuilt feature that allows users to create automatic file backup on Windows 10. File History allows the users to back up their files in an external or cloud drive at different intervals of time. To create automatic file backup using File History: Press the ⊞ WINDOWS + I to open the Settings app. Click on the Update & Security category and then select the Backup tab from the left pane. Under the Back up using File History section, click on Add a drive button. Now choose the drive to store the backup files. Windows will use this drive for File History. Then turn on the toggle button under Automatically back up my files. This will back up your data to the drive automatically whenever you connect it to the system. Below the toggle button, click on the “More options” link to set how frequently File History will back up. Use the Keep my backups drop-down menu to get the option to configure the time for how long you want to keep your backups. By default, it will keep your backups forever. Under the section Back up these folders, tap on the Add a folder button in order to add one more folder to the backup. Then click on the Add a folder button, under Exclude these folders. This will exclude the files that you don’t want to back up. You can stop the drive from storing backup files to change the backup storage location. To do this, click the Stop using drive option under the Back up to a different drive category.

3. Backup using Windows backup & restore tool

   Open Control Panel Click on the System and Security option Scroll down and select the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) button Next click on the Set up backup button, available under the Back up or restore your files section Under the Save backup on section, select the Backup Destination where you want your backup files to get stored On the “Set up backup” page, Windows will ask you to choose the way to backup, check Let me choose checkbox, and then hit the Next button Under the section Computer, select the files and folders you want to backup. Then uncheck the box next to the Include a system image of drives option, and then hit the Next button Now click on the Change schedule link. Set the time and check the box beside Run backup on a schedule button Click OK then select the Save settings and run backup option

If you are using a Windows Update Standalone Installer to install Windows Updates in your Windows 10 computer but you suddenly encounter an error saying, “Installer encountered an error: 0x80096002, The certificate for the signer of the message is invalid or not found”, read on as this post will guide you on how you can fix it. This kind of error could be due to the vendor’s certificate that might have become invalid, compromised, or pulled. Aside from that, it is also possible that the update is not targeted at your OS version. You could get this error when you try to install an incompatible update or software on your computer. This error can also appear due to misconfigured system files or when you try to install BitLocker To Go Drive Encryption or BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool. To fix this error, you can try to run the standalone installer in Compatibility mode or enable the Windows Identity Foundation or run the Windows Update troubleshooter. Make sure to check if the error was resolved after every suggestion. It will help you learn what fixed the problem.

Option 1 – Try to run the installer in Compatibility mode

• Look for the setup file.
• Once you find it, right-click on it and select Properties from the context menu.
• After that, go to the Compatibility tab and mark the checkbox for “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and from the drop-down list, select the Windows OS version you want the installer to run on.
• You also have to check the “Run as administrator” option.
• Now click the Apply button and then click OK to save the changes made and check if it has resolved the issue or not.

Option 2 – Try to troubleshoot compatibility

This option is almost the same as the first one except it is an alternative way of fixing the error 0x80096002 in case the first one didn’t work. In this option, you will troubleshoot the compatibility issue.

• Look for the setup file.
• Then right-click on it and select the “Troubleshoot compatibility” from the context menu.
• After that, click on the “Try recommended setting” option. Once the process is done, the error message should be gone.

Option 3 – Try to enable the Windows Identity Foundation

You might also want to enable the Windows Identity Foundation as some users reported that it helped in resolving the error for them. To do so, follow these steps:

• In the Windows Start Search, type “Turn Windows features on or off” and click on the matching result.
• This will open a list of Windows Features and from there, look for the Windows Identity Foundation.
• Once you found it, click on its checkbox and click OK to enable it and save the changes made.
• Now see if it has fixed the error or not. If not, you have to disable the feature.

Option 4 – Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter

Running the built-in Windows Update troubleshooter is one of the things you can first check out as it is known to automatically resolve any Windows Update errors like error 0x80096002. To run it, go to Settings and then select Troubleshoot from the options. From there, click on Windows Update and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” button. After that, follow the next on-screen instructions and you should be good to go.

If you are trying to access a particular file on your Windows 10 computer either to open, rename or delete it, and you suddenly encounter an error stating, “Could not find this item. This is no longer located in [Path]. Verify the item’s location and try again”, read on for this post will help you out in resolving this issue. If you are able to find and view a file on your computer, you should have clear access to it. And since you are seeing an error message when you try to do something about this file, you are not able to do anything with the file. There are times when this error pops up with the files created by third-party services and that the file’s extension is not defined properly. On the other hand, there are also other obscure causes for this error. To fix it, here are some suggestions you can try.

Option 1 – Delete the file using Command Prompt

If you wish to delete the problematic file and weren’t to, you can use Command Prompt.

• In the Start menu, type in “Command Prompt” to search for it or you could also click the search button right next to the Start menu and then right-click on the related result and select the option “Run as administrator”.
• Once you’ve opened Command Prompt, copy and paste the command given below and tap Entre after you do so. You also have to make sure that you key in the correct path where the file is located as well as its name.

rd /s \?X:badfolderpath Note: In the command above, “X” is the placeholder letter so you must input the letter that corresponds to the drive’s letter where the file is located.

• After that, you will see the “Operation completed successfully” message on your screen. If you don’t, check if you’ve really inputted the correct location of the file or its name.

Option 2 – Use a Command Prompt tweak to rename the file

If you don’t want to delete the file and only want to rename it, you can apply some tweaks using the Command Prompt. Make sure to follow the steps carefully.

• In the Start menu, type in “Command Prompt” to search for it or you could also click the search button right next to the Start menu and then right-click on the related result and select the option “Run as administrator”.
• After opening Command Prompt, type in “cd” followed by the path where the file is located with this format – “C:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3”. However, you have to omit the problematic file this time. To put it simply, the last folder in the command must be the folder where the file is located.
• After inputting the command, tap Enter on your keyboard and then use the set of commands given below. Note that each command is a new line so you need to tap Enter after copying each line.
  • DIR /A /X /P
  • RENAME (the current name of the problematic file) (a non-problematic name)
  • EXIT

Note: Make sure that you only input the current name and the new name separated by a space. You must not write the brackets in the command. If everything goes well, you will now be able to operate the file like you used to before.

Option 3 – Use Command Prompt to delete the file without any extension

This option applies to cases where the affected file does not have any viable extension which means that Windows does not really know what to do with it and it only displays the “Could not find this item. This is no longer located in [Path]. Verify the item’s location and try again” error message. It usually occurs with the files created by browser plugins that are mostly from Mozilla Firefox. To delete these kinds of files, here’s what you have to do:

• Follow the first two steps from the previous option above so you can navigate to the location of the file accurately just be careful in inputting the folders.
• Don’t forget to tap Enter right after each command and then use the next command below so you can delete the affected file which has no extension:

del *.*

• After you’re done, open the File Explorer and then check if the file is now deleted or not.

Option 4 – Try using another workaround without using Command Prompt

This option is a lot like a workaround but it definitely gets the job done for you. It’s ideal for you if you do not want to deal with Command Prompt and only want to do everything in a graphical environment. To get started, follow the steps below.

• Look for the affected file or folder on your PC using File Explorer. Once you found it, right-click on it and select the “Add to archive” option from the context menu.
• Once the archiving options window pops up, look for the “Delete files after archiving” option and make sure that you select it then click OK to start archiving the folder or file. After that, you should now notice the file no longer exists.
• After that, delete the archive file as well.

A command is not recognized Error, what it is? If you are constantly using programs like CMD or DISM directly from the Run prompt, you might have wondered how they launched instantly and how is it that the Windows operating system is able to find them right away. For instance, when you create a shortcut of a program, the shortcut knows where exactly the program is located and launches it quickly. The Windows operating system keeps a list of paths where the most common system programs are located so when you use the Run prompt, it opens easily. The list kept by Windows is called the Windows Environment Variables. If something goes wrong with this list, the programs won’t work. So in this guide, you will be guided on how you can troubleshoot the problem where any command you use is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file. Before you start troubleshooting the problem, you need to make sure that the program you are trying to run really exists. In fact, this can also happen to the Run program which is pulled up using the Win + R shortcut. To check, go to C:\Windows\System32 and there, check if the program exists or not or you can also try searching for the EXE in the System 32 folder. After making sure that the program exists, refer to the instructions given below.

Modify the Windows Environment Variables:

• Step 1: Tap the Win + X keys and then select System. After that, it will open the section where you can see all the properties on your computer.
• Step 2: Next, select the Advanced system setting located on the left pane and click on the Environment Variables.
• Step 3: After that, locate Path under the System Variables and select EDIT.
• Step 4: Before you edit, you need to copy the entire string and paste it into the Notepad app so that in case something went wrong, you can paste it back.
• Step 5: Next, look for the directory path, “C:\Windows\System32”. If you can’t find it, try adding a semi-colon at the end.
• Step 6: Afterwards, click OK to save the changes made and then exit.
• Step 7: Now restart your computer as all the paths are picked up when your computer restarts.

Note: Now all you have to do is to try executing the programs once again – the ones where you got the error, “ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file” every time you open them and then see if you can now open these programs or not.

If you are using Google Chrome browser in surfing the web, you might have experienced a situation where you’re trying to connect to a website but were unable to since Chrome failed to fetch the website to the browser and throws an error that says, This webpage is not available – Err Connection Timed Out. Aside from an issue with the network connection, there are also other reasons why this error suddenly shows up, read on to fix it. There are times when the Windows computer is responsible for this kind of issue. And it can happen not just to Google Chrome but to other browsers as well. To resolve this issue, here are some suggestions that might be of help.

Option 1 – Try checking the network cables and then restart your router and reconnect

The first thing you can do is to check if all the network cables are properly connected be it to your computer or to the router. And if your computer is connected via Wi-Fi, you need to restart your router once. And of course, you can always opt to forget the Wi-Fi details and then reconnect again just make sure that you know the password.

Option 2 – Check the Windows Host file

You can also try to cross-check the Windows Hosts file to find out if the website you are trying to open has been blocked because if it is, then it’s no wonder why you’re getting the ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT error in Chrome. There are instances when some third-party application modifies the file and adds some websites to the blocklists. So if the website is indeed blocked, you need to remove it from the list.

Option 3 – Try removing Proxy

Removing the Proxy might also help you in fixing the ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT error. Here’s how you can do it:

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type “inetcpl.cpl” in the field and hit Enter to pull up the Internet Properties.
• After that, go to the Connections tab and select the LAN settings.
• From there. Uncheck the “Use a Proxy Server” option for your LAN and then make sure that the “Automatically detect settings” option is checked.
• Now click the OK and the Apply buttons.
• Restart your PC.

Note: If you are using a third-party proxy service, you have to disable it.

Option 4 – Try to clear the browsing data of Google Chrome

If your browsing data in Chrome hasn’t been cleared for some time now then that might be the reason why you’re suddenly getting the ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT error when you browse the web. To fix this error, you need to clear your web browsing data. Refer to the following steps to do so.

• Tap the Ctrl + Shift + Delete buttons to go to the Clear browsing data section in Chrome.
• Next, set the time range to “All time” and tick all the boxes and then click on the Clear data button.
• After that, restart the Chrome browser and try to open the website you were trying to open earlier.

Option 5 – Flush the DNS and reset TCP/IP

You might also want to flush the DNS and reset TCP/IP as it could help in fixing the ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT error. To do so, refer to these steps:

• Click the Start button and type in “command prompt” in the field.
• From the search results that appear, right-click on Command Prompt and select the “Run as administrator” option.
• After opening Command Prompt, you have to type each one of the commands listed below. Just make sure that after you type each command, you hit Enter
  • ipconfig /release
  • ipconfig /all
  • ipconfig /flushdns
  • ipconfig /renew
  • netsh int ip set dns
  • netsh winsock reset

After you key in the commands listed above, the DNS cache will be flushed and the Winsock, as well as the TCP/IP, will reset.

• Now restart your computer and open Google Chrome then try opening the website you were trying to open earlier.

Option 6 – Run the built-in Malware Scanner and Cleanup Tool in Chrome

In case you don’t know, there is actually a built-in malware scanner and cleanup tool in Chrome that helps you get rid of any unwanted ads, pop-ups, and even malware, as well as unusual startup pages, toolbars, and other things that could affect the performance of the browser.

Option 7 – Reset Chrome

Resetting Chrome can also help you get rid of the ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT error. Resetting Chrome means restoring its default settings, disabling all the extensions, add-ons, and themes. Aside from that, the content settings will be reset as well and the cookies, cache, and site data will also be deleted. To reset Chrome, here’s what you have to do:

• Open Google Chrome, then tap the Alt + F keys.
• After that, click on Settings.
• Next, scroll down until you see the Advanced option, once you see it, click on it.
• After clicking the Advanced option, go to the “Restore and clean up the option and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option to reset Google Chrome.
• Now restart Google Chrome.

The Windows 10 operating system comes with a user-friendly interface as well as better security features compared to its previous versions. One of these new features is the “Recently Opened Files” feature which displays all the files you’ve opened recently in File Explorer. Although it might seem useful, some users see this as a privacy concern especially if there are other users that use the same computer. If you are one of these users, read on as this post will guide you on how you can disable the “Recently Opened Files” feature in Windows 10. There are three ways you can disable the “Recently Opened Files” feature. You can manually clear the recent files, or disable the feature via Control Panel. You can also do it using the Group Policy Editor.

Option 1 – Manually clear the recent files

The first thing you can do is to clear the recent files manually. Since the information about the recently opened files is stored in the form of cached data, you can locate this data and delete it manually, from time to time. To do that, follow these steps:

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run utility and copy this address in the field: %AppData%MicrosoftWindowsRecent
• Next, tap the Ctrl + A keys to select all the items and then tap the Shift + Delete keys simultaneously.
• After that, a prompt will appear where you have to click on Yes. This will delete all the recently opened files in the File Explorer the next time you open it.

Option 2 – Disable the feature via Control Panel

The next option you can try to disable the feature is via Control Panel. Refer to these steps to do so:

• First, click on the Start Menu button and select the Settings icon.
• After that, click on Personalization and then on Start located on the left pane.
• Next, scroll down until you see the “Show recently opened items” in Jump Lists on the Start or the Taskbar and click on it and then toggle it off.

Option 3 – Disable the feature using the Group Policy Editor

If you are using the Windows 10 Pro version, then you have access to edit the functions in the Group Policy. The Group Policy function has the option that can disable all the default services of Windows 10. Note that in this step, you will permanently disable the “Recently Opened Files” feature. So before you proceed, make sure that you really want to disable this feature permanently and not in the meantime.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “gpedit.msc” in the field and click OK or tap Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.
• Next, on the left side pane, click on the “User Configuration” option and then click the “Administrative Templates” option.
• After that, select the “Start Menu and Taskbar” option and select the “Don’t keep the history of recently opened documents” option in the right pane.
• Now double click on this option and check the “Enabled” option and then click on Apply and OK buttons to save the changes made.