Easy Ways to Disable Recent Documents Feature

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Several Windows XP users want to disable recent documents feature to ensure privacy. Others do the same to make Windows XP run faster. There are many ways to do so. Check additional information about disable recent documents.

Many Windows XP operating system users customize their system's features, depending on their use and preferences. Among the most common requests of Windows XP users is to disable recent documents view for privacy's sake.

Produced by Microsoft, the Windows XP operating system includes the acronym XP, which stands for eXPerience. It was designed for use in personal computers, including notebook computers, media centers, as well as business and home desktops. Compared to its predecessor, Microsoft Windows, XP is widely considered to be many times better in terms of efficiency and stability.

Moreover, Windows XP introduced many new features, including faster and shorter hibernation and start-up sequences, easier user interface, remote desktop functionality that enables users to connect to a Windows XP computer in a network, and fast user switching that allows users to open and save applications and at the same time, allowing another user to log on. In addition, Windows XP also displays the names of files that were recently used by a user. These files can be found in the Recent Documents folder and can be readily accessed by any user that have logged on. This feature was originally created to make it easier for users to keep track of documents recently used. By accessing Recent Documents History, it becomes easier for users to reopen any of them.

Easy access to the recent documents folder has become a cause of controversy for many users, as many contend that this feature is an invasion to their privacy. This is especially true for computers with multiple users. With this feature, succeeding users will know and find the files that have been created or accessed by a previous user. Due to this, many users have made it imperative to disable the use of this Windows XP feature. Aside from violating user privacy, the Recent Documents History feature also causes Windows XP to run very slowly. This is due to the fact that every time Windows XP is booted, the operating system has to calculate and identify the files that need to be placed under the Recent Documents History folder.

Fortunately, for Windows XP users, there are many easy ways to disable this feature. The Internet is a rich information resource of methods that can be used by users who are not partial to the disable the recent documents feature.

One of the easiest ways to disable the recent documents feature is to type the "regedit" command on the run option in the start menu. Then, browse or navigate to this address, "HKEY_CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer". Lastly, a DWORD value needs to be created with the NoRecentDocsHistory key and the value is to be set by 1. For these changes to take effect, the PC has to be restarted or the user has to log off.

Another easy way to disable recent documents feature is to click on the taskbar and properties. After, the Start Menu tab is selected and the command "customize" is clicked. In the Advanced tab, the option "List my most recently opened documents" have to be unchecked and the Clear List button is used to clear the current list of recent documents.

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