How to Check if Someone Was Peeping into Your Windows 11 Computer

Your computer is essentially more private than your journal. It can include everything from your documents, work files, future business plans, passwords, bank information, etc. Of course, you should always protect your computer from problems like viruses and hackers, but what if someone close to you has been snooping around your PC? If you are worried that someone has been looking through your personal computer, I will address this in this tutorial and show you how to check if someone was peeping into your Windows 11 computer.

Check if Someone Was Peeping into Computer

Privacy is absolutely important to everyone. No one likes other people looking around our business. If you are worried that someone has been using your PC or has been snooping around your files, then there are a few things you can check and confirm your suspicions.

Check Recent Files Opened

If you want to check what files someone viewed, you can easily do this. If you figure out what files were recently opened, this may help you determine what the culprit was looking for and even help you be your own Sherlock and catch the guilty person. First, you should check what files or folders were recently opened:

1.  Press the shortcut keys Win + E or click on the File Explorer icon on the taskbar.
2.  You will be automatically entered into the ‘Quick Access’ section. Over here, in the right pane, you can see Folders and Recent Files. Just click on the options to expand them and view what files were recently accessed.
   

If you have a lot of important word documents and you are worried that someone could have tried to open them, you can check the recent files directly from Microsoft Word.

1.  Open Microsoft Word.
2.  Click on File.
3.  You will see a list of Recent opened files in the right pane.
   

Check If Someone Was Peeping into Your Windows 11 Computer Using Recent Files Modified

If you find that some important files have been deleted from your system, then this is sure sign that someone has been using your PC. If these files haven’t been removed completely, you can recover them from the Recycle Bin. There is also the possibility that your data has been tampered with or modified.

Step-1: Open File Explorer (shortcut keys Win + E).

Step-2: Type the following in the search bar at the top right corner and press Enter:

datemodified:

Step-3: Click on the Search options drop-down menu. Hover your cursor over Date Modified and select any option. Once you select the option of your choice, you will get a list of files that have been modified in the time period you selected. This will give you an idea if someone has tampered with important files or not.

Browser History

Most people are smart enough to turn on incognito mode when they use the browser on other people’s computers. However, if someone forgot to use this mode, your browser history is a good place to check for clues.

1.  Open your browser.
2.  Use Ctrl + H shortcut keys to open the browser history.

Check If Someone Was Peeping in Your Windows 11 Computer Using Windows Logon

Your OS keeps a log of every time you login to your computer. You can check this log and see if your computer has been logged into when you were away from it.

Step-1: Click on the search icon on the taskbar and type Event Viewer. Select Open.

Step-2: In the left pane, click on the Windows Logs option to expand it.

Step-3: Now select Security.

Step-4: You will get a list of activities with ID codes but you don’t have to interpret each and everyone of these. Look for the following codes:

4624 – Logon
4672 – Special Logon (Admin Login)
4634 – Account logs off PC

Step-5: To look for these codes in the long list given, click on Find in the extreme right pane.

Step-6: Type the code and press Find Next. You can then scroll through the list provided.

Step-7: If you know the period you haven’t used your system, you can use the Filter option to make the process easier. Click on Filter Current Log.

Step-8: Add details like time from the Logged drop-down menu and the event codes. Press OK. You will get a list of these codes for the time period and code selected.

In the future, keep a strong password that isn’t related to your personal life. Don’t write this password down somewhere and every time you step away from your PC, use the Win + L keys to lock your system. I hope this helps you figure out if someone was peeping into your Windows 11 computer. Let us know if you have more tips for us in the comments below.