How To Turn Off "Recent Documents"
Folks, today a ‘quick tip’- The Windows Start menu can show you a list of the files you have recently opened, which is a handy shortcut for returning to works-in-progress. This feature is called “My Recent Documents” and you can quickly and easily turn it on or off.
Tip of the day: Customize your Start menu to show your most recently opened files or, if you’re a ‘minimalist’ and want a leaner, cleaner Start Menu, do the opposite of [un-check] these steps to disable the Recent Documents feature).
Step 1:Right-click on a blank area of your Taskbar, and select “Properies” from the context menu.
Step 2: Select the Start Menu tab, and click on the “Customize” button.
Step 3: Select the “Advanced” tab, and Place a check in the checkbox labeled “List my most recently opened documents.” Now click “OK”, and “OK” again.
That’s it. You’re done. Now when you click on the Start Button, you will see the last things you were working on, and can quickly launch them by clicking their icon.
For Vista: Vista users can do this too, and actually have a little more control..
.. but the steps are the same. Select the “Start Menu” tab, and place the checks.
Today’s free link: TweakUI, a Microsoft “Power Toy”, is an applet for XP that allows for a remarkable amount of, well, “tweaking” of Windows’ behavior and appearance. “This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, Taskbar settings, and more.”
Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.
post to jaanix
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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Tech - for Everyone 
THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDED
GREAT HELP
EASES THE MICROSOFT FRUSTRATION IN NON GEEKS
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Mr. McNeill–
Thank you. I have posted over 500 articles containing tips & tweaks and advice. The articles are search-able by keyword, and archived by month. I hope you’ll stay and look around some.
Here’s one more free tip: hit the key on your keyboard just above the left Shift key, and release the Caps Lock. (You either have it on accidentally, or you like SHOUTING on the Internet.. And I’m not hard of hearing.. Yet. I love your enthusiasm, though.)
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Awesome! Now my wife won’t find my recently viewed fetish pornography… (at least until she arrives home early one day and finds me wearing her underwear and rodgering our pet goat.)
Thanks Techpaul, you’ve saved my marriage!
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Dave,
Umm.. Yeah. Thanks for visiting and I’m glad I could help.
You might also want to regularly use an app like CCleaner or TracksEraser to flush your browser history and temp folders too…
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This only works if you’re using the Vista standard menu. If you switch to classic menu view, it will display your recent documents if you have not cleared the history. I’ve been trying to find a way to remove this feature altogether, however I have not been able to find a way for you to keep Windows from tracking your recent document access while using the classic view. Have you, or anyone else, encountered a solution? Thanks!
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James,
If you are a ‘power user’ and comfortable with editing the Registry, you might find this article helpful (click http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-9953244-68.html).
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