How to Clear Personal Information from Cortana and Your Microsoft Account

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Cortana and other Microsoft services, such as Bing, use your recent searches and history to customize their search recommendations for you in Windows 10. If you don't want that personal data stored in your Microsoft account, you can clear it out in just a couple of steps.

1. Navigate to https://www.bing.com/account/personalization in your browser.

2. Sign in with your Microsoft account if prompted.

3. Click the Clear button under "Interests" to delete your saved favorites and interests for Bing, MSN, and Cortana. Interests include news topics, weather, finance, and flights you've added to your Microsoft account, for example, with interest tiles on the Bing homepage.

4. Click Clear to confirm your choice.

5. Click the Clear button under "Other Cortana Data and Personalized Speech, Inking and Typing." This will clear the info saved from your calendar, contacts, location, and browsing history.

6. Again, click Clear to confirm.

7. Follow the other links on the page to clear or manage additional saved info, such as your saved places in Bing Maps, Bing search history, and saved info for Xbox, OneDrive, Outlook, and Microsoft Advertising.

Note that when you clear the personal info, Cortana and other Microsoft services will be more limited in providing you personalized recommendations. You'll also have to head back to the personalization page again after using the services to clear out any new info saved to your Microsoft account.

Cortana Tips and How-Tos

Melanie Pinola