How to Turn Off Recent Files and Quick Access on Windows 10

This guide explains how to turn Off Recent Files and Quick Access on Windows 10, with clear steps, practical tips, and important checks before you begin.

As you can see every time we turn on Windows Explore, the files we have recently used will appear on the screen:

To turn off Quick Access and Recent Files, follow these steps:

Step 1 : Choose File -> Change folder and search options

Step 2 : The Folder options window appears in the Open File Explorer section for you to select This PC (the default of Windows 10 is Quick Access). Selecting this will cause Windows Explorer to open This PC by default (no longer opening Quick Access).

Then in the lower part Privacy, you uncheck the 2 lines Show recently used files in the quick access and Show Quick Access Frequently used folders printing.

Finally click Apply and OK.

Now when you try to open Windows Explorer (Windows + E), you will not see Quick Access anymore.

You click on Quick Access also no longer see the recently used files (Recent Files) appear.

Above is a tutorial on how to turn off Recent Files and Quick Access on Windows 10 with just a few simple steps. Thank you for watching the article!