The Intrusive Share Menu
Windows 11 features a unified “Share” menu that pops up when you right-click a file and select the share icon. To speed up collaboration, Windows automatically populates the top of this menu with suggested contacts—people you have recently emailed, messaged on Teams, or interacted with via the Your Phone app. While intended for convenience, this is a massive privacy risk if you are presenting your screen during a meeting, recording a tutorial, or sharing your computer with a family member, as it instantly broadcasts your most frequent and private contacts to anyone looking at your monitor.
Clearing the Contact List
To protect your privacy and stop Windows 11 from automatically suggesting your recent contacts every time you open the Share menu, you must explicitly disable the feature within the Windows Settings.
Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings application. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on Personalization. In the main panel, scroll down and select Start. Look for the toggle switch labelled Show contacts, shortcuts, and apps in sign-in, on lock screen, and in the Share menu (the exact wording may vary slightly depending on your Windows 11 build, sometimes appearing as just “Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer”). You need to turn this toggle Off. Additionally, to be absolutely certain, navigate to Privacy & security > General, and ensure the toggle for “Show me suggested content in the Settings app” is also disabled. Your Share menu will now only show application icons, not people.