More on managing “My Recent Documents”
In a previous post, I showed how to clear the “My Recent Documents” folder. I don’t think that it is generally recognized how many shortcut files this folder can accumulate over time. It can actually affect the performance of your machine, especially at logon. The ones that are visible on the Start menu are only the latest 15 entries. The actual folder %USERPROFILE%\Recent may have many more than that. Also not always understood is the fact that the this folder continues to collect entries even when “My Recent Documents” has been removed from the Start menu. You can prevent an ever-growing accumulation by periodically cleaning it out as previously described but housekeeping chores like this are often neglected by the average PC user.
Instead of doing the cleanup yourself, you can set up the system to do it automatically every time you log off. One way is with a Registry edit. (The usual caveats about Registry editing apply.) Using Start-Run, open the Registry editor Regedit and navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a DWORD value named ClearRecentDocsOnExit and give it a data value of 1. Shortcut entries for “My Recent Documents” will still be collected during a login session but will then be cleared at logoff.
For those who prefer to avoid editing the Registry, here is a zipped INF file. Download and unzip anywhere convenient. Then right-click and choose “Install” from the context menu. The change will take place when you log off or reboot.
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