It isn't so much privacy and security I'm worried about, I get rid of anything that is so private I don't want anyone else to see it. It's that all these 'things' we're talking about take up a lot of room over time. I found stuff that's been on this machine since I first fired it up, and first went on line, well over two years ago. Recent, for instance (the hidden one), had files listed that were long gone. I don't remember how many kb (or mb) it was but a lot. And when one only has 6 gb it helps to clear out anything not needed. It also cuts the defrag time, &c. The various 'recent', index, log, txt, gif, urls, &c add up over time, and over not so much time. My opinion is if you don't need it get rid of it.