By Abhijith M B
Publication Date: 2026-09-29 01:12:00
Yesterday, I wrote about how Windows can keep thumbnails of photos you deleted, and a friend who’s donating his old Windows laptop (with RAM prices where they are, that’s a generous gift) asked me, out of concern, if resetting his PC is enough and whether Windows secretly keeps some of his data.
Fearmongering posts about Windows are not new on social media, with a few viral posts claiming that Windows keeps a permanent record of every USB device you’ve ever plugged in, even after it’s removed. There is an actual Windows behavior behind the claim, but engagement-farming posts make it sound far more sinister than it is.
Linux and macOS also maintain device information and system logs for hardware, too. And Microsoft has documented the behavior for more than a…