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Clearing unwanted entries in the Run Command at Start

Posted By : Jeffrey of Chandler-Gilbert Community College on November 13, 2001

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This is driving me crazy. When I go to the "run" command, there is a drop-down list of anything I have previously typed in there as a run command. Some were over a year ago. How do I delete the items on that list? Same issue with the "find" command. A drop down menu shows anything I have ever typed in the "find" box. I really want to delete these lists of previously run/searched words. I mean, it's a basic privacy thing. I have looked and looked and can't figure it out. Searched internet and your site, but honestly I don't know the correct terms other than "delete" that I should search under. Probably very simple, but leave it to Microsoft to make something difficult that does not need to be. Thanks for any help! Suzanne

This question was answered on November 13, 2001. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.


Thanks for your question Here's what I've found; Whenever you use the Start Menu's Run command to launch a program, that program is added to a history Since this is a possible cause to an irritating problem, a solution is provided here for clearing this history:

Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE)

Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ RunMRU\

Delete all of the values in this key (everything in the right pane, except for (Default))

Close the Registry Editor when finished You'll probably have to refresh the Desktop or restart Windows for this change to take effect

Good luck.

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Posted by Jeffrey of Chandler-Gilbert Community College on November 13, 2001

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