Delete backups

Question

I have noticed that whenever I reinstall windows and set up my account again, I get recommended backups from previous days. I have not found a way to access nor delete the said backups which is a tad frustrating for me. Where do they get stored? And since they are rendered as a bundle when reinitializing the system, should they not be easily locatable and 'deletable' under those same bundles? All I get under settings are prompts to turn off syncing per folder, not as a collective as they are rendered on initialization.

Surely this is an open loop that should be addressed, data management laws in several countries mandate provision of data deletion support (as part of user data lifecycle), without major hurdles.

Answer 1

By way of explanation:

If you sign in to Windows with a Microsoft account, you should understand that a Microsoft account is simply Microsoft's brand name for a cloud account - that's an account that is created for you on the internet.

Since your account is actually on the internet, many of your settings and files are likewise stored on the internet - in your Microsoft account.

This has advantages. One of those advantages is that when you perform what Microsoft calls a reset, and you sign in to your reinstalled Windows with the same user account you previously had, all those files and settings that were stored on the internet are restored to your user account.

Resetting a computer is rarely done, since a reset is one of those last resort steps that's taken when your computer is in big trouble. So it's my guess that Microsoft didn't think they needed to create a system to manage backed up data.

Answer 2

Log into your Microsoft account on this link: https://account.microsoft.com/devices

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the 'Cloud synced settings' section.

Click on Clear stored settings, and then click Clear to confirm the deletion of that data from your account.