How to remove traces of activity on the computer
User actions on a computer are recorded in the operating system. The following information is saved:
- Details of search queries entered by users and websites visited
- Information about started applications, as well as opened and saved files
- Microsoft Windows event log entries
- Other information about user activity
Intruders and unauthorized persons may be able to gain access to confidential data contained in information on past user actions.
Kaspersky Internet Security includes the Privacy Cleaner Wizard, which cleans up traces of user activity in the operating system.
To run the Privacy Cleaner Wizard:
- Open the main application window.
- Click the More Tools button in the lower part of the main window to open the Tools window.
- In the left part of the Tools window, click the Privacy Cleaner link in the Show more drop-down menu to run the Privacy Cleaner Wizard.
The Wizard consists of a series of pages (steps), which you can navigate through by clicking the Back and Next buttons. To close the Wizard after it finishes, click the Done button. To stop the Wizard at any stage, click the Cancel button.
Let us review the steps of the Wizard in more detail.
Starting the Wizard
Make sure that the Search for user activity traces check box is selected. Click the Next button to start the Wizard.
Activity traces search
This Wizard searches for traces of activity on your computer. The search may take a while. When the search is complete, the Wizard proceeds automatically to the next step.
Selecting Privacy Cleaner actions
When the search is complete, the wizard informs you about the detected activity traces and asks about the actions to take for elimination of these activity traces (see the following figure).
Activity traces detected and recommendations on eliminating them
To view the actions within a group, to the left of the group name, click the 
sign.
To make the Wizard perform a certain action, to the left of an action, select the corresponding check box. By default, the Wizard performs all recommended and strongly recommended actions. If you do not want to perform a certain action, clear the check box next to it.
It is strongly recommended that you not clear the check boxes selected by default, as doing so will leave your computer vulnerable to threats.
After you define the set of actions for the Wizard to perform, click the Next button.
Privacy Cleaner
The Wizard performs the actions selected during the previous step. Elimination of activity traces may take some time. To clean up certain activity traces, it may be necessary to restart the computer; if so, the Wizard notifies you.
When the clean-up is complete, the Wizard proceeds automatically to the next step.
Wizard completion
Click the Done button to exit the Wizard.
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