clearing the recent documents list

Ok i've seen some pretty stupid things in vista but this one takes the
biscuit

every time I try to clear the recent documents list, if there are any
documents in that list which have been deleted from disk (or were on a
disk which isn't plugged in any more), it:

(a) searches the whole disk for it (unless you click cancel)
(b) if it was found in the recycle bin, asks if I want to restore it
(c) says it is no longer there and asks if I want to delete the
shortcut anyway

this happens for each of the documents stored in the list, not just
the 10 that are actually shown on the menu. Once you've got into this
process there is no option to cancel.

I can't believe nobody else finds this a problem unless i'm doing
something stupid. is there some other way to clear the list which
doesn't go through this long winded procedure

Andy

Rightclick the Start orb, Properties, Start menu Tab. UnCheck, and Apply,
and ReCheck and Apply the checkbox for recent files opened.

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Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
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Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson

<> wrote in message
news:ee174191-f4e4-4453-a018-...
> Ok i've seen some pretty stupid things in vista but this one takes the
> biscuit
>
> every time I try to clear the recent documents list, if there are any
> documents in that list which have been deleted from disk (or were on a
> disk which isn't plugged in any more), it:
>
> (a) searches the whole disk for it (unless you click cancel)
> (b) if it was found in the recycle bin, asks if I want to restore it
> (c) says it is no longer there and asks if I want to delete the
> shortcut anyway
>
> this happens for each of the documents stored in the list, not just
> the 10 that are actually shown on the menu. Once you've got into this
> process there is no option to cancel.
>
> I can't believe nobody else finds this a problem unless i'm doing
> something stupid. is there some other way to clear the list which
> doesn't go through this long winded procedure
>
> Andy

I don't have a 'recent documents' but I do have a 'recent items' in the
start menu.
Right clicking that and selecting 'clear recent items list' goes smoothly
taking several seconds. I am pretty sure that at least some items in the
list had been deleted.

Perhaps we are talking about different things.

Vista Home Premium SP1, US english
Michael


<> wrote in message
news:ee174191-f4e4-4453-a018-...
> Ok i've seen some pretty stupid things in vista but this one takes the
> biscuit
>
> every time I try to clear the recent documents list, if there are any
> documents in that list which have been deleted from disk (or were on a
> disk which isn't plugged in any more), it:
>
> (a) searches the whole disk for it (unless you click cancel)
> (b) if it was found in the recycle bin, asks if I want to restore it
> (c) says it is no longer there and asks if I want to delete the
> shortcut anyway
>
> this happens for each of the documents stored in the list, not just
> the 10 that are actually shown on the menu. Once you've got into this
> process there is no option to cancel.
>
> I can't believe nobody else finds this a problem unless i'm doing
> something stupid. is there some other way to clear the list which
> doesn't go through this long winded procedure
>
> Andy

thanks i'll try that next time :-)

On Dec 5, 3:05*pm, "Mark L. Ferguson"
<MarkLFergu...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Rightclick the Start orb, Properties, Start menu Tab. UnCheck, and Apply,
> and ReCheck and Apply the checkbox for recent files opened.
>
> --
> Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
> Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
> Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVPhttps://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>
> <ajf...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>
> news:ee174191-f4e4-4453-a018-...
>
>
>
> > Ok i've seen some pretty stupid things in vista but this one takes the
> > biscuit
>
> > every time I try to clear the recent documents list, if there are any
> > documents in that list which have been deleted from disk (or were on a
> > disk which isn't plugged in any more), it:
>
> > (a) searches the whole disk for it (unless you click cancel)
> > (b) if it was found in the recycle bin, asks if I want to restore it
> > (c) says it is no longer there and asks if I want to delete the
> > shortcut anyway
>
> > this happens for each of the documents stored in the list, not just
> > the 10 that are actually shown on the menu. Once you've got into this
> > process there is no option to cancel.
>
> > I can't believe nobody else finds this a problem unless i'm doing
> > something stupid. is there some other way to clear the list which
> > doesn't go through this long winded procedure
>
> > Andy- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

ok well i've tried your suggestion of un-checking and re-checking the
"store and display a list of recently opened files" and that didn't
make any difference

well in fact it gave all the error messages and prompts but didn't
actually clear the list afterwards

I wondered whether the problem might be to do with running the start
menu in 'classic' mode, so I switched to vista style then did a right-
click on 'recent items' tried to clear from there as suggested by
michael above. That didn't work either (to put it mildly) - the first
couple of times I tried it, explorer crashed :-(


On 5 Dec, 15:20, ajf...@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
> thanks i'll try that next time :-)
>
> On Dec 5, 3:05*pm, "Mark L. Ferguson"
>
>
>
> <MarkLFergu...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> > Rightclick the Start orb, Properties, Start menu Tab. UnCheck, and Apply,
> > and ReCheck and Apply the checkbox for recent files opened.
>
> > --
> > Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
> > Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.http://www.microsoft..com/wn3/locale...help_en-us.htm
> > Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVPhttps://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>
> > <ajf...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>
> >news:ee174191-f4e4-4453-a018-....
>
> > > Ok i've seen some pretty stupid things in vista but this one takes the
> > > biscuit
>
> > > every time I try to clear the recent documents list, if there are any
> > > documents in that list which have been deleted from disk (or were on a
> > > disk which isn't plugged in any more), it:
>
> > > (a) searches the whole disk for it (unless you click cancel)
> > > (b) if it was found in the recycle bin, asks if I want to restore it
> > > (c) says it is no longer there and asks if I want to delete the
> > > shortcut anyway
>
> > > this happens for each of the documents stored in the list, not just
> > > the 10 that are actually shown on the menu. Once you've got into this
> > > process there is no option to cancel.
>
> > > I can't believe nobody else finds this a problem unless i'm doing
> > > something stupid. is there some other way to clear the list which
> > > doesn't go through this long winded procedure
>
> > > Andy- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

All of those things are actually registry changes. I would guess you are
seeing some version of a registry Permissions error.

Aaron Stebner's WebLog Solving setup errors by using the SubInACL tool to
repair file and regi:
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archi...04/739820.aspx

--
Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson

<> wrote in message
news:93be6510-87ac-480d-b9eb-...
> ok well i've tried your suggestion of un-checking and re-checking the
> "store and display a list of recently opened files" and that didn't
> make any difference
>
> well in fact it gave all the error messages and prompts but didn't
> actually clear the list afterwards
>
> I wondered whether the problem might be to do with running the start
> menu in 'classic' mode, so I switched to vista style then did a right-
> click on 'recent items' tried to clear from there as suggested by
> michael above. That didn't work either (to put it mildly) - the first
> couple of times I tried it, explorer crashed :-(
>
>
> On 5 Dec, 15:20, ajf...@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
>> thanks i'll try that next time :-)
>>
>> On Dec 5, 3:05 pm, "Mark L. Ferguson"
>>
>>
>>
>> <MarkLFergu...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>> > Rightclick the Start orb, Properties, Start menu Tab. UnCheck, and
>> > Apply,
>> > and ReCheck and Apply the checkbox for recent files opened.
>>
>> > --
>> > Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
>> > Please use the Communities guidelines when
>> > posting.http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
>> > Mark L. Ferguson
>> > MS-MVPhttps://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>>
>> > <ajf...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>>
>> >news:ee174191-f4e4-4453-a018-...
>>
>> > > Ok i've seen some pretty stupid things in vista but this one takes
>> > > the
>> > > biscuit
>>
>> > > every time I try to clear the recent documents list, if there are any
>> > > documents in that list which have been deleted from disk (or were on
>> > > a
>> > > disk which isn't plugged in any more), it:
>>
>> > > (a) searches the whole disk for it (unless you click cancel)
>> > > (b) if it was found in the recycle bin, asks if I want to restore it
>> > > (c) says it is no longer there and asks if I want to delete the
>> > > shortcut anyway
>>
>> > > this happens for each of the documents stored in the list, not just
>> > > the 10 that are actually shown on the menu. Once you've got into this
>> > > process there is no option to cancel.
>>
>> > > I can't believe nobody else finds this a problem unless i'm doing
>> > > something stupid. is there some other way to clear the list which
>> > > doesn't go through this long winded procedure
>>
>> > > Andy- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>