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Turn Off the Documents Menu

Intended For
Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows Me
Windows 98
Windows 95
The Documents Menu is a clever idea - it displays a list of the last dozen-or-so programs and files opened from the Explorer. Unfortunately, it can be a security/privacy risk, allowing anyone to see what you've been working on. Here's how to turn it off:

Use TweakUI

  • Double-click the TweakUI icon in Control Panel, and choose the IE tab.
  • Turn off the Add new documents to Documents on Start Menu and Show Documents on Start Menu options.

Use the Registry Editor

  • Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).
  • Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer.
  • Double-click on the NoRecentDocsHistory value in the right pane - if it's not there, create a new binary value by that name.
  • Change 00,00,00,00 to 01,00,00,00
  • Repeat the last two steps on the NoRecentDocsMenu value.
  • You'll have to restart Windows for the change to take effect.

To clear the Documents menu temporarily

  • Select Settings in your Start Menu, and then select Taskbar & Start Menu (in Windows 95, right-click on an empty area of the taskbar and select Properties).
  • (In Windows XP, choose the Start Menu tab, choose Classic Start Menu, and click Customize.)
  • Click Clear to clean out the menu. Note this is only temporary until you launch another file.

To clear the Documents menu quickly on demand

  • Download and install Clear.bat, a batch file which does the trick (1 kb).

  • Note: If you use this solution, you can configure the DOS window to close automatically by right-clicking on the file, selecting Properties, clicking on the Program tag, and turn on the Close on exit option.

To clear the Documents menu every time you start Windows

  • Double-click the TweakUI icon in Control Panel, and choose the IE tab.
  • Turn on the Clear document, run, typed-URL history on exit option.
  • Choose the Paranoia tab, and turn on the Clear Document history at logon option.

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Written by: Annoyances.org
Last updated: Thursday, August 16, 2001

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