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When I first installed Windows 8 I linked my account to my Twitter and Facebook accounts.

My Facebook friends and everyone I follow on Twitter then appeared as contacts in my People app

I have since removed the link to both accounts.

All my Facebook friends have been removed but the Twitter contacts still appear in People.

There is no Delete option. How do I remove them?

This is Windows 8 Pro RTM (from MSDN), not any of the previews.

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    That app might have an appdata folder, remove it's config files there.
    – HackToHell
    Oct 2, 2012 at 6:40
  • could you edit my answer and add the location of the appdata folder
    – HackToHell
    Oct 2, 2012 at 6:47
  • There is a folder of .eml files in there, one for each twitter account but deleting them does nothing
    – Shevek
    Oct 2, 2012 at 6:47
  • Sorry, didn't actually work, my bad
    – Shevek
    Oct 2, 2012 at 6:48
  • lol, interesting problem
    – HackToHell
    Oct 2, 2012 at 6:48

4 Answers 4

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I have managed to remove the orphaned contacts.

I uninstalled and reinstalled the People app (along with Mail, Calendar and Messaging apps, they are all in a single app)

  1. Right-Click on People tile
  2. Click Uninstall at the bottom of the screen
  3. Click Uninstall to confirm removing Mail, Calendar, People and Messaging
  4. Delete/Rename the folder C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local\Packages\microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_IDENTIFIER
  5. Reboot (possibly not required, but I did it anyway)
  6. Open the Store app
  7. Hover in the bottom right corner and select Search from the menu which appears
  8. Enter Mail, Calendar, People and Messaging in the search box
  9. Select it from the Recommendations list
  10. Click the Install button

I now have an empty People app!

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  • I am amazed at such a great usability... Jan 12, 2013 at 1:01
  • And Microsoft wonder why people complain about them!
    – Shevek
    Jan 13, 2013 at 12:29
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Please look for the appdata folder of the people app, clearing it will remove the twitter contacts.

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  • and will remove other contacts too..
    – Sathyajith Bhat
    Jan 8, 2013 at 16:00
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Removing an account from People doesn’t delete any contacts from that account, as you found out.

As an unfortunate addition, the Delete button appears only for contacts you’ve added by hand. If they’ve been added through Facebook or another online social media site, you have to delete them by removing them from your contacts on that site, by Unfriend on Facebook or unfollow on Twitter, for example, to remove them from the People app.

The only hope I have found is in the Microsoft article People: FAQ, that says that removing your Microsoft account (the account you use to sign in to Windows) will remove all of your accounts from People, Mail, Calendar, and Messaging.

I don't have Windows 8 to play around with and test this idea, but that may possibly be the only solution to start afresh. But better first take backups of your People, Mail, Calendar, and Messaging.

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    My experience contradicts this. I unlinked both Facebook and Twitter. My Facebook friends were removed from People but the people I follow on Twitter remain.
    – Shevek
    Jan 9, 2013 at 14:35
  • I have no explanation why it worked for one but not for the other. From what I found, it was not supposed to work for either one. So let's agree to say that removing the account might remove its contacts or might leave you in your current mess, so is not recommended.
    – harrymc
    Jan 9, 2013 at 14:39
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I had the same problem; not with Twitter contacts but rather with Google contacts.

  1. Exported my Google contacts to a file on the Google Contacts website.
  2. Deleted all my contacts from Google.
  3. Relinked the Google account with Windows 8. This caused the People App to refresh and remove all previously Google-linked contacts
  4. Delinked the Google account from Windows 8.
  5. Reimported all my contacts on Google from that export file created in Step 1.

Took about 5 minutes in all.

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