Windows 10 is an operating system that does not stop growing and improving over the years and the updates that Microsoft sends. Often times these come with bug fixes, new features, and various enhancements over existing ones. However, there are elements that have been around for a long time, such as the Start menu, for example, where we can see the most used programs.
But of course, in addition to the importance of the Redmond system as such, we must also take into account the applications that we install here. While Windows itself offers us a wide variety of pre-installed programs , we tend to add our favorites later. We can do this both from the firm’s own store, the Microsoft Store, and from third-party websites.
In this way, in this operating system, as you surely know, both UWP applications and those of a lifetime can coexist. We also have several ways to access everything that we install in Windows , it all depends on what is most comfortable for us. For example, on a regular basis we tend to anchor many of the programs that we use the most in the system’s taskbar itself. This allows us to have these shortcuts visible at all times to open those programs whenever we need them.
Windows Start Menu Utility
With everything and with this, there are other ways to access these programs than the ones we are talking about and that we use every day. For example, we can create shortcuts to them on the system desktop, or open them from the Start menu itself. In fact, Microsoft itself bets on this method that we discussed, although the Start menu is not to everyone’s liking. In fact, it is an element that should be changed to a great extent, something that many users have been demanding for some time.
In it is where the entries, Live Tiles and folders corresponding to everything that we add to the operating system are usually created. In fact, it can be said that while we use Windows 10 , the usual thing is that we see a list of applications in this section. These are usually separated into several sections such as Recently Added, Suggested, or Most Used.
All this, as you can imagine, gives us access to the programs installed in Windows in a direct and comfortable way. But either because we want to simplify the mentioned Start menu or for privacy reasons, we can customize what you see here. Specifically, we refer to the possibility of hiding the list of most used programs in this section. This is something that we can carry out easily and in a few steps. Therefore, below we explain how to do it and thus stop seeing this by default.
Hide the most used programs in the Windows Start menu
At this point, it should be mentioned that when the function itself is activated, the Most used section of the Start menu keeps track of the applications we use the most. All this in order to show the mimas through a list in the Start menu that we are talking about. But yes, we have the possibility of eliminating this list of most used applications from the Start menu if we wish. For this that we tell you, the first thing we must do is access the Windows Configuration application.
This is something that we achieve in a simple way by just using the Win + I key combination, for example. We can also find it by accessing the system’s Start menu and clicking on the cogwheel-shaped icon that we see here. Thus, once the new Settings window appears on the screen, in this case we opted for the Personalization section.
Hide the most used programs from Settings
As we can see, on the left side of this section, we see different options available. All of them refer to various components of the operating system that we can customize to our liking. Therefore, in this case what we do is locate the section called Home in said sidebar. As you can imagine, in the new window that appears we find several options so that we can adapt the Start menu, which is the one that interests us now.
So, at this point, what we have to do is change the selector labeled Show the most used applications so that it is deactivated. As we see the change could not be easier and faster, all in order to protect a little more our privacy in Windows.
With this change what we actually achieve is that the next time we open the Start menu, the Most used section of the list of applications will be hidden. Of course, to increase a little more privacy that we demand so much from Windows, we can go a step further on the subject of the most used programs. And it is that at the same time we have the possibility of completely deactivating the Windows function that keeps track of the applications we use the most.
It is worth mentioning that once this is done, we have the ability to further simplify the Windows Start menu. And it is that from this same section we can also deactivate other selectors such as those that show recently added applications or suggestions.
Disable tracking of the most used programs in Windows
To achieve this that we mentioned, regarding the most used programs, again we access the Windows Configuration application as we told you before. But now we are going to click on the Privacy section of the main window. Then, in the panel that we see on the left, in this case we go to General.
Well, here we are going to find another selector like the one before, but in this case it reads Allow Windows to track application launches to improve the Start and search results. By default it is activated, so we only have to move it to turn it off.
