Note: this will only work for Windows 10 Pro - the registry editor is not built into Home edition. Method 3: Disable the Recent Items and Frquent Folders list using the Registry Editor

Scroll to the bottom of the list of settings and turn ‘Show recently opened items in Jump Lists on Start or the taskbar’ to ‘Off’.

Click on the Windows Start button then open ‘Settings’ (the cog icon).

Note: It will only disable the ‘Recent files’ list - NOT ‘Frequent folders’.

This is the process Windows 10 Home users will need to use.

And when you start typing a URL into the address bar, it shows you a list of places you’ve been that match. You can hit the Back button to revisit pages you’ve viewed in the current session, or you can use the history window to go back to pages from days or even weeks ago.

Now select all and delete all items - remember to empty the Recycling Bin if you don’t want this history to be easily restored. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer tries to be very helpful as you browse the web by keeping track of where you’ve been.

Copy in the following path and click ‘OK’.

Press the Windows button + R on your keyboard - this will open the Run window.

Method 1: Manually clear the Recent Items and Frequent Folders history There are two options available for manging these lists - manually clearing the history (leaving the history still working), completely disabling the feature, and if you have Windows 10 Pro you can completely disable it using the registry editor. the Advanced folder, you should see a list of entries on the left side of the window. These are listed under ‘Quick Access’ in File Explorer– which happens to be the default folder when you open the File Explorer, as well listing the ‘Frequent Folders’ in the navigation pane. The Quick access section is found when you open the File Explorer. When you open files or folders Windows 10 keeps a history so it can list your ‘Recent Items’ (recently opened files) and ‘Frequent Folders’ (folders you use a lot).

Windows explorer frequent list