When you open the Windows Vista Start menu and right-click Recent Items, the option Clear Recent Items List may be missing. Also, the Recent folder may be displayed with a generic folder icon in Windows Explorer.
This happens if the desktop.ini file in the Recent folder is deleted. Thanks & Credits to dean-dean for the Tip.
1. Click Start, type “%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows” and press {ENTER}
2. Right-click the folder named Recent, and choose Delete. Click Yes when prompted.
3. Type the command “shell:recent” in Start – Search box, and press {ENTER}.
Note: The above command re-creates the Recent folder, along with a new desktop.ini file and opens the folder. For additional information on Shell: command, see this blog entry: Shell commands (shell:) to access the special folders in Windows Vista
4. Logoff the user account and login back.
You should now see the context menu entry Clear Recent Items List when you right-click on the Recent Items folder in the Start menu.
Alternately, you may use my VBScript to quickly clear the recent documents history.
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Thank you sooo much. I had an overzealously lightened slipstreamed disk with the recent documents option completely unavailable in the start menu properties. This restored it.
Great instructions worked first time. Thanks heaps..