How to Remove Quick access from Explorer

To remove specific Quick Access icons in Windows Explorer while keeping others, you can clear individual entries rather than all of Quick Access. To do this, right-click on the specific folder or item (the ones circled in orange) in Quick Access and select "Unpin from Quick Access." This will remove only those selected icons. The icons highlighted in green, which you want to keep, will remain unaffected. If you want to clear all recent or pinned items, you can go to "Options" in the View tab, then under the General tab, click "Clear" next to "Clear File Explorer history." This approach allows you to customize your Quick Access view by removing unwanted icons selectively.

Uncheck Show frequently used folders and Show recently used files in File Explorer Options→General→Privacy and you're good to go!