How to Remove Traces of your Activity on a Computer

Many people don't want others to find out about their activities on their computers. For instance, if you're planning to sell your computer you should remove security-sensitive information. In a few steps, you could hide your computer activity.

Encrypt Your Keystrokes

You need to protect yourself from keyloggers/Rats. As strange as it may sound even the government/ security agencies/ windows/Hackers all has keyloggers, which records the users IP address, Mac address, open ports, operating system, installed applications, default web browser, visited URLs, logged in user, etc…

Delete Web History 

Delete your Web browser history. In Internet Explorer, you can do this by going to "Tools" menu and selecting "Delete Browsing History..." Then press the "Delete All" button at the bottom of the pop-up window. This will help to prevent the casual user from viewing your previous pages.

Delete Recent Files

To delete evidence of files you may have viewed or programs you may have run, go to the following directory and delete all files contained therein: C:\Documents and Settings\John.Smith\Recent. "John.Smith" is the computer owner's name used during Windows installation.

Empty Recycle Bin

Although it may seem obvious, make sure the Recycle Bin is empty. It's so easy to forget to do this. You can simply right-click on the "Recycle Bin" icon and select "Empty Recycle Bin."



Clear Regisrty

Get a registry cleaner, such as CCleaner (piriform.com/CCLEANER), that can help delete certain entries in your Windows registry. Some programs leave keys and codes in the registry that make them readily identifiable.

Disable and Remove USB Logs

Next on the list of Anti-Forensics in to disable logs of USB activity, flash drives, etc…
This can be valuable if you have a flash drive with sensitive data and you don’t want any logs of it ever being plugged it to your computer. How to remove traces by disabling or removing usb logs.

Delete the USBSTOR Registry Setting

The USBSTOR setting contains history of plugged in USB devices.
To delete it, hit the WINDOWS Home Button + R at the same time. This will open up ‘Run’; type: “Regedit” (without quotes). Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetEnumUSBSTOR
Now, right click ‘USBSTOR’ and hit ‘Delete’, then confirm that you want to delete the key. Now, the key has been deleted.

Delete The Setupapi.log File

The Setuppapi.log is a plain-text file that stores the list of installed USB devices and their drivers. We will delete it with a program called CCleaner.
CCleaner is actually one of the best anti-forensic tools out there, and its free.

Disable Windows Event Logging

Windows keeps logs of all events on the computer. First, before we disable, we must clear all the logs.

To disable it, go to Control Panel then System and Security. Now, click Administrative Tools, and then Event Viewer. In either pane of the Event Viewer window, right-click System and then select Clear All Events, you will get a window that says: “Do you want to save ‘System’ before clearing it?”, click ‘No’.

Now we must disable Windows Event Logging. Go to ‘Run’ and type in ‘msconfig’, then go to ‘Services’ and make sure ‘Hide all Microsoft Services’ is UNCHECKED. Now scroll down until you find ‘Windows Event Logging’, and UNCHECK it.


Now restart your computer right away.


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