Batch file to Clear Recent Documents in Windows XP

We have earlier published an article on how to clear the Recent Documents list in Windows XP. The method discussed in the article requires you to open Start Menu properties window and then proceed. But there is an easy way – just create a batch file and all you to do is double-click on the file and the Recent Documents list as well as the Run MRU will be cleared. Here is how :

  1. Open Windows Notepad and copy – paste the following in it :
    @echo off
    reg delete HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs /f
    reg delete HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU /f
    reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs /f
    reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU /f
    taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
    start %windir%explorer.exe

  2. In Notepad, choose File → Save As and save the file as %userprofile%desktopclear_recent_docs.bat
  3. This would create a file clear_recent_docs.bat on your Desktop. Double-clicking on this file will clear all the entries in the Recent Documents list and the Run MRU.

You can also download the readymade batch file from here : winxp_clear_recent_docs.zip.

Note : The batch file kills Windows Explorer and starts it again so that the Windows Registry can be reloaded. This means that all Windows Explorer windows will be closed. Other program windows will stay open.