Windows 7 - completely remove 'recent items' option from save as/open dialog

discostew · 03-03-2011

thanks a bunch for all these useful tips. i've locked down my terminal servers ALMOST perfectly now. one thing remains.....

any way to completely remove the 'recent items' option from the save as/open dialouge??

thanks a bunch

Brink · 03-03-2011

You're most welcome Stew, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I believe this should help with the common file dialog box. You could add or remove what you like instead of the default items in it.

Common File Dialog Box - Customize Places Bar

Hope this helps,
Shawn

discostew · 03-03-2011

Thanks Shawn,

i have done that one already via GPO, i have it showing only 'tsclient' there which is great. the problem is the user can still click the save as dropdown and select 'recent items'.....i've been trying to get rid of that option to no avail....so far.

any ideas?

Brink · 03-03-2011

It may be from you only having 1 item instead of 5 added. See if having 5 items of your choice added instead will stop "Recent Places" from showing up in the "Save as".

discostew · 03-03-2011

issue there is that we don't want them to have any other options. This one seems to have most people stumped, there is always something that microsoft leaves in there just to irk admins like myself. it wouldn't be so bad if they couldn't browse around their user folder after they select recent items from the drop down....but of course they can.

whaddya gonna do i guess.
thanks anyways

Brink · 03-03-2011

As a workaround, you could use the tutorial below to disable Recent Items for all users on the computer. The "Recent Places" item in the save as/open dialog will still be there, but it will always have empty results now.

Recent Items - Enable or Disable

discostew · 03-03-2011

Yeah, i've done that as well. The main issue is the whole being able to browse after they select it from the drop down. Do you know of a way to grey out the folder up icon? i've already removed the 'common back' button.

thanks for your advice

Brink · 03-03-2011

Strange. Recent Items is empty for me no matter how I browse or navigate to it when it's disabled.

Did you see if restarting the computer after disabling Recent Items helped?

discostew · 03-03-2011

Sorry, i guess i wasn't clear. the recent items list is empty when you select it, the problem is the fact that the user can then click the folder up icon and get to a different level in their user profile, they can actually folder up all the way to the root of the C:....they can't do anything, but i don't like the fact that they can even see it.

Brink · 03-03-2011

Ah ok. It's still empty, but that's the way it is for me as well.

I'm not sure if it can be removed from there or not. I'll look into to, and if I find anything, I'll post back with it.

Windows 7 - completely remove 'recent items' option from save as/open dialog

completely remove 'recent items' option from save as/open dialog problems?