Whenever you use your computer to go online, you leave traces of your activity in the form of web history, cached data and other logs and temporary files. Kaspersky Cleaner is a new tool from the developers of our favourite antivirus software, that helps to protect your privacy by deleting these files.
Kaspersky Cleaner: Link | 10 mins | XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10
In this Workshop, we show you how to customise its settings to clear all this sensitive information from your browser. The tool also automatically clears out Windows’ temporary files and can be set to delete your search history and recent documents list, as well as other files that reveal how you use your PC. Microsoft was criticised for gathering information about users in Windows 10, but Kaspersky Cleaner automatically disables those features that are most likely to compromise your privacy. By clearing unnecessary files, it also frees up hard-drive space and makes your PC run faster.
Step 1: Download, install and run Kaspersky Cleaner. Click the System Cleanup button to display a list of actions you can perform with this part of the scanner. Under ‘Important issues’, the ‘Clear terminal client cache’ and ‘Clear TEMP folder’ options are ticked by default.
Step 2: If you use Chrome or Firefox, tick the appropriate boxes so that Kaspersky Cleaner deletes your cached files. Under ‘Medium-severity issues’ you can set the scanner to delete Internet Explorer’s cache and also to empty the Recycle Bin.
Step 3: Further down the list, there’s an option to clear Chrome’s website logo cache. Scroll down further to find an option that sets Kaspersky Cleaner to delete your Recent Documents list. Click the back arrow, then select Remove Activity Traces for another list of options.
Step 4: Kaspersky Cleaner is still in beta, so you might notice some entries in this list that were also in the previous menu. To ensure that traces of your browser activity are not left on the PC, tick all the appropriate boxes for your web browser on the list.
Step 5: If you use Internet Explorer or Edge, tick ‘Clear browser history’ in the ‘Important issues’ section. There are options to delete the browser’s cookies, cache and list of trusted domains 3 in the ‘Medium-severity’ section and a further option to delete its typed URLs in ‘Minor issues’.
Step 6: Also in the ‘Important issues’ list is the option to ‘Clear search requests log’. You can set Kaspersky Cleaner to delete your Java cache by ticking the appropriate box under ‘Medium severity’ and, if you use eMule, there are also options to delete your search history and download log.
Step 7: In the ‘Minor problems’ section, it’s a good idea to tick the boxes that clear your search history. You can restore the application’s default options for each list at any time by ticking the Default button. Once you’re happy with the configuration, click Back and select Private Browsing.
Step 8: The Important Issues in this menu relate to different aspects of Windows logging. By default, Kaspersky Cleaner disables services that share information with Microsoft including the Application Impact Telemetry Agent and the Customer Experience Improvement Program.
Step 9: If you have concerns about your privacy when using Cortana, you can disable it by ticking the appropriate box. Scroll down and you can also enable an option that cleans up Internet Explorer’s cache when you close the browser.
Step 10: Click Back once more and select Start Scan. When it’s done, the number of problems detected for each section is shown. Click Fix to repair them automatically or click the individual sections to make refinements. Once fixed, click Reboot Now to restart your PC.
