Just yesterday, Microsoft released Windows 10 build 21359 . This new version of the operating system continues to shape what will be the second update of 2021 for the operating system, Sun Valley, one of the largest updates that we will see since the launch of the OS. Little by little we are getting to know the news of this new version. However, they are not all new features, but Microsoft also has in mind to remove some of the current functions of the OS. And one of the next functions that will disappear will be the timeline, or Windows Timeline .
What is the Windows 10 timeline
The Windows 10 timeline is a function of the operating system that is responsible for collecting everything that we are doing in the system over the last few days. In this way, if we need to reopen a website, or a file or document, we can do it directly from this section. In addition to being a function intended for local use, Microsoft included the possibility of synchronizing this timeline with other computers through the Microsoft account. Thus, we could access any file or website that we had opened on the computer from any other PC.
With build 21359, Microsoft said there were going to be changes to this feature. And, as often happens, many media do not read and have understood what they wanted, ensuring that Microsoft has said that this function is going to disappear. And this is far from the truth.
Windows Timeline does not disappear
If we spend 30 seconds reading the list of changes from build 21359 we can see that the Windows timeline is not going to disappear . What Microsoft is going to disable is the synchronization function between computers. That is, from June of this year, everything we do on a computer will be recorded in the timeline of that computer, but it will not be synchronized with the other computers that we use.
Microsoft assures that this decision will improve the privacy of the users. In addition, there are already other ways to synchronize the history of everything we do between several PCs. For example, Chrome, Edge or the browser that we use will allow us to access the history from different devices. And, thanks to Office 365, we can do the same with Word, Excel and other office software.
In other words, the Windows + Tab keyboard shortcut will always allow us to access the activity history in our Windows 10. But we will not be able to see the activity of other computers. This feature will stop working for all Microsoft account users in June 2021. Users joined to an Azure Active Directory will not be affected (that is, it will continue to work).
How to disable this feature
Although Microsoft is not going to eliminate it, if we are not going to use it we can easily deactivate it. To do this, all we have to do is open Windows Settings, from the start or with the Win + I key combination, and go to the Privacy> Activity history section.
From here we can deactivate these options to prevent this history from being saved on our computer, and most importantly, that it is shared with Microsoft.
