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. Written by: Annoyances.org Last updated: Thursday, August 16, 2001 Care to discuss this article with other Windows users? Select your operating system here, and click Continue to post your question. - Choose your OS -Windows 7Windows VistaWindows Server 2003Windows XPWindows 2000Windows MeWindows 98Windows 95 Previous discussions about this article: (open a message to see applicable responses, if any) [Windows XP] WinXP Documents list (asmodius: Monday, February 25, 2002) [Windows Me] Question about 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (Daniel Hamm: Monday, March 4, 2002) [Windows 95] Comment about 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (Derrick Diemont: Friday, March 8, 2002) [Windows Me] Question about 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (Iain Mcgregor Lees: Wednesday, March 27, 2002) [Windows 98] Comment about 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (Courtney: Sunday, May 19, 2002) [Windows 98] Comment on 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (Matthias van der Heide: Sunday, June 2, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (Steve: Monday, June 3, 2002) [Windows 95] Question about 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (Fred: Saturday, July 13, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'Turn Off Computer' (Avantika: Monday, January 13, 2003) [Windows 2000] Question about 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (Matt: Tuesday, March 4, 2003) [Windows 2000] Question about 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (Loren: Monday, April 14, 2003) [Windows 98] Question about 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (Roy Landis: Sunday, July 6, 2003) [Windows Me] Question about 'Turn Off the Documents Menu' (michael reeves: Sunday, October 5, 2003) [Windows 98] How to clear the Documents menu selectively (Maarten Daams: Tuesday, March 2, 2004) Return to "Reducing Clutter"