Windows 10: Deactivate timeline - how it works

With build 17063, Windows 10 received a timeline function that records a history of your activities. If you do not want to use the function, you can deactivate it again. We will show you how to do this here.

What is the timeline in Windows 10?

The Windows timeline includes all of your activity over the past few days, weeks, and months, and allows you to quickly resume past work or open websites you've visited. By default, you call the new function with the key combination [Win] + [Tab]. If you do not want Windows to collect this information and make it accessible, you can deactivate the function in various ways.

Switch off the timeline in the Windows settings

1. Open the Windows settings either by calling them in the start menu or by pressing the key combination [Win] + [i].
2. Click "Privacy" and then click "Activity History" on the left.
3. In the "Filter account activity" area, set the switch next to your Microsoft account to "Off".
4. Also set the switch at "Windows may record my activities on this device" to "Off".
5. If you want to delete the previous activity history, click on the button "Delete activity history".

Windows 10: Turn off the timeline in the registry

Alternatively, deactivate the timeline by intervening in the Windows registry:

1. Press [Win] + [r] and type "regedit" (without the quotation marks). Confirm your entry.
2. In the new window, navigate to "Computer \ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ System".
3. In the right-hand area of ​​the window, double click on the "EnableActivityFeed" entry and enter "0" as the value.
4. If the entry does not exist, you must first create it. To do this, right-click on an empty space and select "New" and then "DWORD value (32-bit)".
5. If you restart Windows, the timeline is completely removed.

Disable the timeline in group policies

If you use Windows 10 Pro with administrator rights, the timeline can also be deactivated using Group Policy:

1. Press the [Win] + [r] keys and type "gpedit.msc" (without the quotation marks). Confirm the entry.
2. Click Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates> System> Operating System Policies.
3. Then double click on the "Activate activity feed" entry.
4. In the new window, select "Deactivated" and confirm with the OK button.
5. Finally, restart Windows to apply the changes.

If you also want to remove the most used apps on the Windows 10 Start menu, this is also done quickly. Simply follow the next instructions.