MRU list (XP Home Edn)

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I’d like to know where all Most Recently Used documents lists are stored/shown as I occasionally do some personal stuff at work (in my lunch hour I might add!), and it’s frowned upon! I’ve found under “Internet Explorer; History; My Computer”, then the file names listed, but don’t know where else it would appear.

Q.2 -is there a way of selectively removing an individual filename from the Word MRU list? I found the place in the registry where it’s stored, but don’t want to mess with it without knowing consequences.

Many thanks!

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I can’t “swear” to this, but I think MRU’s are stored in a number of places in the registry, probably wherever the software in question lives. I say that only from faint recollection of seeing MRU’s in a number of places when I was working in the registry for other purposes. How about on the Start Menu Properties? There’s a button to clear all most recent documents. Would that help? You might even want to check Spybot Search & Destroy. Again, I don’t use it but I think it also will offer to clear MRU’s. Then there’s always various “tweaking” software…..

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Try looking at C:Documents and Settings”User account”My Recent Documents. Once here you can delele what and all the you need.

NOTE. that this is a HIDDEN SYSTEM folder so you need to set the “Show Hidden” files option in Windows Explorer (My Computer).

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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You can also get to the Recent Documents this way (it works even if system not set to show hidden files/folders):
Start>Run>type “recent”>OK

But, there are of course, as mentioned, many other places that hold information about files/folders etc.

Regarding Word, I don’t think you have to restart to remove the list of files. If you uncheck the mark on Tools>Options>General then click OK, the list is gone. You can then go back to options and mark it again to start tracking the files from that point.

Regards,
Argus

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You can also get to the Recent Documents this way (it works even if system not set to show hidden files/folders):
Start>Run>type “recent”>OK

But, there are of course, as mentioned, many other places that hold information about files/folders etc.

Regarding Word, I don’t think you have to restart to remove the list of files. If you uncheck the mark on Tools>Options>General then click OK, the list is gone. You can then go back to options and mark it again to start tracking the files from that point.

Regards,
Argus

Reply | Quote

Try looking at C:Documents and Settings”User account”My Recent Documents. Once here you can delele what and all the you need.

NOTE. that this is a HIDDEN SYSTEM folder so you need to set the “Show Hidden” files option in Windows Explorer (My Computer).

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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IE’s MRU is the least of your worries, but as you have been able to find it why not edit it by overtyping the offending document/page name with a harmless one of the same length. This won’t damage anything.

Be aware that your employer’s firewall might be cacheing the internet pages you read. There’s nothing you can do about this. Your company might also take the view that e-mails sent and received using the company’s e-mail system might be fair game for them to read. Good employers will have a published guide to these matters.

As I said, your MRU is only one of your worries in IE. Please use Tools|Internet Options…| and, on the Advanced tab, turn off “Browsing|Use inline Auto Complete” and turn on “Security|Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed”. Both these remove clues others can use to see where you have been browsing.

After using IE, delete the cookies too. They state in clear language where you have been browsing. (Tools|Internet Options…|General|Delete Cookies…)

Then there is the folder maintained by Windows XP “C:Documents and SettingsRecent” which contains shortcuts to everything (well, almost everything) you have recently opened…

All the above is really too much to have to remember. Your best bet is to download a specialised utility. I use CleanUp which is freeware and available from “http://cleanup.stephengould.org” although there are many other utilities that do similar work. CleanUp does all the above (including deleting the cookies) and much more besides (like deleting WinZip’s MRU list) and even the hard disc’s pre-fetch buffers! That is surely taking paranoia to new lengths!

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IE’s MRU is the least of your worries, but as you have been able to find it why not edit it by overtyping the offending document/page name with a harmless one of the same length. This won’t damage anything.

Be aware that your employer’s firewall might be cacheing the internet pages you read. There’s nothing you can do about this. Your company might also take the view that e-mails sent and received using the company’s e-mail system might be fair game for them to read. Good employers will have a published guide to these matters.

As I said, your MRU is only one of your worries in IE. Please use Tools|Internet Options…| and, on the Advanced tab, turn off “Browsing|Use inline Auto Complete” and turn on “Security|Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed”. Both these remove clues others can use to see where you have been browsing.

After using IE, delete the cookies too. They state in clear language where you have been browsing. (Tools|Internet Options…|General|Delete Cookies…)

Then there is the folder maintained by Windows XP “C:Documents and SettingsRecent” which contains shortcuts to everything (well, almost everything) you have recently opened…

All the above is really too much to have to remember. Your best bet is to download a specialised utility. I use CleanUp which is freeware and available from “http://cleanup.stephengould.org” although there are many other utilities that do similar work. CleanUp does all the above (including deleting the cookies) and much more besides (like deleting WinZip’s MRU list) and even the hard disc’s pre-fetch buffers! That is surely taking paranoia to new lengths!

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Here’s an additional thought or two about MS Word’s MRU list. My previous answer posted ten minutes ago suggested that you overtype worrisome names in an MRU with a harmless one of the same length.

In MS Word you can change the length of the MRU list by accessing Tools|Options|General tab. You can even set it to zero entries. If you set it to zero and close Word, then re-open Word, it will have cleared the list by itself. Then you can reset the length to nine (my usual choice) or whatever.

BTW, PaintShop Pro lets you change the length of the MRU list too, but it’s minimum length is ‘1’. If I were ever to want to hide the names of the pictures I had opened (heaven forfend!) I would keep the MRU list at one item long and open an innocuous picture after the naughty one.

Reply | Quote

Here’s an additional thought or two about MS Word’s MRU list. My previous answer posted ten minutes ago suggested that you overtype worrisome names in an MRU with a harmless one of the same length.

In MS Word you can change the length of the MRU list by accessing Tools|Options|General tab. You can even set it to zero entries. If you set it to zero and close Word, then re-open Word, it will have cleared the list by itself. Then you can reset the length to nine (my usual choice) or whatever.

BTW, PaintShop Pro lets you change the length of the MRU list too, but it’s minimum length is ‘1’. If I were ever to want to hide the names of the pictures I had opened (heaven forfend!) I would keep the MRU list at one item long and open an innocuous picture after the naughty one.

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Rather than breaking your company’s rules and regulations, why not try to get them changed?

Most sensible employers shouldn’t object to non-contentious, non-excessive, private use of your PC during the lunch period. Provided the use is sensible, it’s of little concern to them.

You should be aware that there are several systems around (SurfControl, Websense, etc etc.) which can store every web image that is written to your PC – these are trapped between your firewall and your PC.
The same applies to the archiving of every email you send and receive. But see the first two paragraphs again…!

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Rather than breaking your company’s rules and regulations, why not try to get them changed?

Most sensible employers shouldn’t object to non-contentious, non-excessive, private use of your PC during the lunch period. Provided the use is sensible, it’s of little concern to them.

You should be aware that there are several systems around (SurfControl, Websense, etc etc.) which can store every web image that is written to your PC – these are trapped between your firewall and your PC.
The same applies to the archiving of every email you send and receive. But see the first two paragraphs again…!

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a nice utility is MRU blaster , which will clear all sorts of MRU’s (it scans 5000+ (!) mru items in the registry). it can be installed in a restricted user account as well. i don’t know if this is possible in the home edition, but some system mru’s that are displayed in file open dialogs can be switched off using the group policy editor (i did this on my XP prof box at home)

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Thank you all, very useful.

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Thank you all, very useful.

Reply | Quote

a nice utility is MRU blaster , which will clear all sorts of MRU’s (it scans 5000+ (!) mru items in the registry). it can be installed in a restricted user account as well. i don’t know if this is possible in the home edition, but some system mru’s that are displayed in file open dialogs can be switched off using the group policy editor (i did this on my XP prof box at home)

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