Clear the Recent Documents list in Windows 7

Method 1
 

Recent Items listed in the start menu are stored in:
%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
 

Recent items listed in jump lists are stored in:
%appdata%\microsoft\windows\recent\automaticdestinations

you can press Win+R and paste “%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent” and press OK will open the folder. You can select all file and press delete for manual process.

And again press Win+R and paste “%appdata%\microsoft\windows\recent\automaticdestinations “ and press OK will open the folder. You can select all file and press delete for manual process.

Or you can simply open command Prompt and paste this “del %appdata%\microsoft\windows\recent\automaticdestinations\* “ command and press enter, then press “Y” and press enter again will clear data automatically.

Method 2 (Clear Recent history on exit)

1. Go to Start menu, and type gpedit.msc in the search line and press Enter.
2. If prompted by UAC, click on Continue.
3. Now go to this folder : User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar.
4. Once you got to this folder, you will find ‘Clear history of recently opened documents on exit’ in the right pane, just double click on it.

Method 3
 

NOTE: This option will also clear the Recent items in Jump Lists as well, and not just in the Start Menu.

1. Right click on the Start button, and click on Properties.
2. Uncheck the Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar box, and click on Apply.
3. If you would like to turn recent items back on, then check the Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar box.

Reference: Muthukumar (http://nadarmuthukumar.blogspot.in) 

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Posted in: Windows