Why Clear Clipboard in Windows 10
Clipboard can be described as a special or dedicated storage location in RAM, used by the computers to store bits of data on a temporary basis. When you copy text, image or any other kind of information on your computer using the (Ctrl+C) command, the information is stored on the Clipboard and remains accessible, even after you have executed the Paste command. For this reason, the data stored on the Clipboard of your computer can turn out to be a security risk, in case you are using a public computer or your computer can be accessed by others. This is especially true, in case you have the habit of copying and pasting passwords and other sensitive data on your computer. Hence, it makes all the sense to get into the habit of clearing the Clipboard, as soon as you are done using your Computer.
Clear Clipboard in Windows 10
There are multiple ways to clear the Clipboard on your Windows 10 computer and you can make use of any of the methods as described below.
1. Copy Other Content
Since the clipboard on your computer holds one-time data only, you can simply copy other content which is not personal or sensitive in nature. For example, let us assume that you were working on a sensitive Microsoft Word Document. You can rule out all the chances of any sensitive data remaining on the Clipboard by simply copying a single word or any other data which is meaningless and not confidential or sensitive in any way. This way, you will be replacing any sensitive information on the Clipboard with some random word or meaningless data which can never be misused by anyone.
2. Use Print Screen
Pressing the Print Screen key on the keyboard of your computer is another way of clearing Clipboard on your Windows 10 computer. This will replace the sensitive data on Clipboard with a screen shot of your Desktop.
3. Restart your computer
Although this can be rather inconvenient, restarting your computer is another way of clearing the Clipboard on a Windows 10 computer. Since, the data on the Clipboard is stored on the RAM, restarting the computer clears this temporary data from your computer.
4. Create Shortcut to Clear Clipboard
In case you have a frequent need to clear the Clipboard, you may want to create a dedicated shortcut on the desktop of your computer to help you clear the Clipboard on your Windows 10 computer.
- Right-click anywhere (Empty space) on the Screen of your Windows 10 Computer. This will activate a Contextual menu on the desktop of your computer. 2. In the Contextual menu, click on New (1) and then click on Shortcut (2) in the side-menu that appears (See image below)
3. Next, type cmd /c echo off. | clip as the location for the shortcut and click on Next (See image below)
- On the next screen, type any Name for the shortcut and click on Finish.
5. You should be able to see the Clear Clipboard shortcut icon created on the Desktop of your Computer.
As you can see in the above image, the shortcut looks like a Command Prompt window. In case you feel like, you can change the look of this shortcut by following the steps below.
Right-click on the Clipboard shortcut Icon and then click on Properties in the contextual menu (See image below).
On the Clipboard Properties Screen, click on the Change Icon… button and then select an appropriate icon for this shortcut (See image below)
How to Use Clear Clipboard Shortcut
Let us now take a look at how to Clear Clipboard in Windows 10 using the Clear Clipboard Shortcut that we created above.
Copy some Content and paste it into a Notepad or Word Document. Now the content that you just copied is still available on the Clipboard and can be accessed by anyone with access to your computer. 2. Next, double-click on the Clear Clipboard shortcut. You will see a Black Screen popping up and disappearing on the screen of your computer.
Now, try to Paste (Ctrl+V) the clipboard content into a Notepad or MS Word Document. You will see that nothing will be pasted on the document, confirming that “Clear Clipboard” shortcut is working on your Windows 10 computer. In general, the idea is to make sure that you remember to clear the Clipboard on your Windows 10 computer. This will rule out the possibility of any confidential or sensitive data being available on the Clipboard of your computer.
