Question Where the heck is Windows getting this information?

[GregP74]

I went to go click on "Open with" on my laptop and managed to accidentally select "Share." I have never used the share button before.

It popped up with a dialog box saying "Search for people or email" with a list of suggested contacts. Difficulty: These are people I haven't communicated with in literally 18-22 years. Where on earth is it getting these names? They aren't in my gmail or outlook contacts.

This is really creeping me out. How can I clear this list and/or find out where it's coming from?

 

[USAFRet]

I went to go click on "Open with" on my laptop and managed to accidentally select "Share." I have never used the share button before.

It popped up with a dialog box saying "Search for people or email" with a list of suggested contacts. Difficulty: These are people I haven't communicated with in literally 18-22 years. Where on earth is it getting these names? They aren't in my gmail or outlook contacts.

This is really creeping me out. How can I clear this list and/or find out where it's coming from?

There are far more repositories of "our" information than what we think.

A couple of years ago, applying for a car loan, it asked me about phone numbers and addresses I've not had this century.
All valid, but not even remotely recent.

 

[ubuysa]

Disconnect from the Internet and try that Share again. If these addresses still crop up then they're in a cache somewhere on your laptop and you can clean that up. If they don't crop up then they're coming from the Internet and (as has been mentioned) you have no control over what's known about you there.