Eliminate the Recent Documents/Recent Items Folder With a Registry Hack

For privacy reasons, many users on shared computers like to clear the Recent Documents folder or delete it altogether. Totally understandable, but there’s no need to turn to the registry to do the job. It’s all in the invaluable TweakUI (and in Vista, it’s built into the OS).

In XP: Install TweakUI and browse to the Explorer section; then uncheck “Allow Recent Documents on Start menu.”

In Vista, right-click the taskbar, click the Start Menu tab, and uncheck “Store and display a list of recently opened files.”