Windows 7: Recent places now remaining empty

Hello Everyone

Until a short while ago my "recent places" was working fine showing all recent folders opened. Following some changes on the exchange mailbox - in principle not related to windows - all of a sudden my recent places is empty.

More worrying it is no longer "populated" as I use new files in new folders.

I've checked that the two boxes for "recent items" and "Recent programs" are checked in the start bar configuration). But is a directory a "recent item"?

"Recently Changed" link is still working on the other hand.



Can someone help?

Just adding some additional information on the previous post :
- I tried creating a new user and problem appears to be the same
- Also tried to do a system restore but for some reasons all the restore points I used came back with a failure message (something around "Cannot access a file") even when Norton AV was de-activated.

I would welcome any solution avoiding an install and repair.