Clearing the Recent Documents History in Windows XP
The Start menu in Windows XP contains an entry, My Recent Documents, where a list of all the recent documents that you have opened or used is kept. This provides a quick way to reopen any document. After a while the list can get quite long and it has the effect of slowing the bootup process. Also, you may not always want to have an easily available record of all the documents you have been opening for others to read.
There are several ways to clear the list. The list is actually comprised of shortcuts that are stored in the folder \Documents and Settings\{User}\Recent\. (Confusingly, the folder Recent actually appears as My Recent Documents in Windows Explorer.) You can delete things there or you can use the Start menu “Properties” dialog. Right-click the Start menu and choose “Properties” from the context menu. Click the button “Customize” and then the “Advanced” tab at the top of the window that opens. You will then obtain the dialog box shown below.
Click the button “Clear List” and then click “OK” twice to remove the entries in the Recent Document History. If you do not want to bother with the history at all, remove the check by “List my most recently opened documents” and click “OK”.
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