CIS Tip of the Month: How to Clear My Recent Documents and Programs

by Martin England

Microsoft Windows XP has a feature called my recent documents, located on the right-hand side of the start Menu. This list contains the last 15 items that have been user-opened, and is a handy way to quickly dial-up recent or frequently accessed files. For security purposes, these items can be deleted individually from this list by simply right-clicking on the item and choosing delete, although the list will still contain 15 items, and be repopulated with the 15 previous items. Fear not: the files themselves will not get deleted, just their appearance on this list.

The contents of my recent documents are located in a hidden file, and stored in the user’s profile. This list can easily be cleared in its entirety by following these steps:
1. Right-click on the start Menu and select properties.

2. Click the customize button.

3. Choose the advanced tab and then select clear list. This action will completely clear the list of any and all documents, which is different from individually clearing the items in that it will not repopulate the list with the last 15 files opened.

4. My Recent Documents can be removed entirely from the start Menu by simply clearing the checkbox for list my most recently opened documents.

Similarly, users can also clear (and customize) the start Menu of most recently used programs by following these steps (these can also be individually deleted by right-clicking on the start Menu-listed program and choosing remove from this list):
1. Right-click on the start Menu and select properties.

2. Select the customize button.

3. Under the general tab, click on the clear list button (listed under the programs sub-menu). Again, clearing this list does not delete the programs, it simply clears the list.

4. Users can specify the number of programs listed on the start Menu by using the number of programs on start Menu indicator. The default number of programs is set to six, but this can be increased (up to 30) or completely shut-off by decreasing this number to zero.

-Published in February 2006