The copy-paste feature has allowed us to create a duplicate of content and place it somewhere we want. The content that you copied is stored in Random Access Memory (RAM), a module that holds temporary information until it needs to be called (paste). However, the data won’t disappear right away after you paste the content.
This can be a performance concern since the RAM is still holding data that is no longer needed. On top of that, bad actors may access your clipboard and steal sensitive information like private pictures, passwords, and even bank details.
Therefore, you might want to immediately clear the clipboard data after using it for duplicating sensitive content. On Windows 10, there are a few ways to do that. Check out the methods below.
Table of Contents
#1 Clearing the clipboard from Windows Settings
1. Go to the Start icon.
2. Click Windows Settings with a gear icon.
3. Then, select System.
4. Scroll down the menu list on the left, and click Clipboard.
5. Now, click Clear to purge your computer’s clipboard.
#2 Clearing Clipboard History
If you have Clipboard History enabled, the previous guide would be sufficient. The following is an alternative (but quick) way to clean the clipboard history, either some of it or all of it.
1. Press the Windows and V keys simultaneously on your keyboard.
2. Click the three dots icon on one of the items.
3. Select Clear all.
4. The clipboard has been cleared.
#3 Just restart the computer
The easiest way to clean your clipboard is simply by restarting the computer. Windows 10 will automatically dump your clipboard data once the device is turned off or restarted, so you can get a fresh start.
Just make sure you have saved your work and closed all currently running programs before restarting.
#4 Copy new content to overlap the preceding
Assuming the Clipboard History is not enabled, every time you copied new content, the previous one would be overlapped — effectively deleting it without effort.
This can be a good trick to use after you copied something sensitive like passwords or credit card details. Ideally, you want to copy some random text that doesn’t mean anything (like lorem ipsum) just to get the data preceding it deleted.
I have seen many articles covering this topic offering a way to create a shortcut that when launched, will clear the clipboard. But it was not actually clearing your clipboard. Instead, it just copied empty content like blank space so the previous clipboard is deleted. In a way, it’s exactly the same as copying new content to the clipboard as I mentioned above.
