Where are the Most Recently Used Lists?

Well I'm not sure about an MRU List cleaner that only deals with MRU Lists.

Personally I use Ccleaner with CCEnhancer add on and manually edit the winapp2.ini file to make MRU List entries appear as an option that can be cleaned.

See examples from winapp2.ini:

Code:

[EmEditor*]
LangSecRef=3024
Detect=HKCU\Software\EmSoft\EmEditor v3
Default=False
RegKey1=HKCU\Software\EmSoft\EmEditor v3\Recent File List
RegKey2=HKCU\Software\EmSoft\EmEditor v3\Recent Folder List
RegKey3=HKCU\Software\EmSoft\EmEditor v3\Recent Font List

Unfortunately even the winapp2.ini file doesn't include all MRU locations for all software and sometimes isn't up to date and needs to be modified manually.

Example:

Default entry for Nitro PDF recent docs list:

Code:

[Nitro PDF Reader*]

LangSecRef=3024

Detect=HKCU\Software\Nitro PDF\Reader

RegKey1=HKCU\Software\Nitro PDF\Reader\1.0\Recent File List

RegKey2=HKCU\Software\Nitro PDF\Reader\2.0\Recent File List

Well it doesn't include detections for Nitro PDF 3.0 and would need to be modified in order to work as follows:

Code:

[Nitro PDF Reader*]
LangSecRef=3024
Detect=HKCU\Software\Nitro\Reader
Default=False
RegKey1=HKCU\Software\Nitro\Reader\3.0\Recent File List

See this post for a little more info:

Latest CCleaner Version Released

I would recommend using CCEnhancer to trim winapp2.ini automatically.

It is possible to just trim winapp2.ini on demand via "Advanced Settings"

Now the problem is that for some lesser known programs you need to hunt down the MRU list and manually add the location to the winapp2.ini file but once you've done that it works okay.

Once you've added the entries they appear as "added applications" to clean in Ccleaner's list. The ones follwed by an asterisk (*) are not default in Ccleaner and have been added.

Other interesting utilities to deal with Windows MRU Lists:

RecentFilesView - View the list of recently opened files

CleanAfterMe - Clean Registry entries and files in your system

EDIT: To answer your question more speciffically - to clean an individual lists check or uncheck the checkboxes in Ccleaner before running.

For those entries with an asterisk (added entries) you can't clean individual entries.

You can right click and choose to clean individual items.

EDIT: Just tested and you can clean individual lists but for me Ccleaner shows no results and reports 0 bytes cleaned in the results window but it still cleans individual lists.

Example:

EMeditor before cleaning:

After:

It's confusing because Ccleaner shows no results when EMeditor is selected for either analysis or cleaning but indeed it does remove the MRU list.

Actually there are no results displayed as only registry entries are being deleted rather than files! :)

Okay I see what you mean. I thought you needed a way to clean the entire MRU file list of specific programs rather than edit the contents of specific MRU lists for various programs.

Well the problem with that approach is that they are stored in different ways depending upon the program.

Examples include:

Stored in lists in the registry
Stored in .ini files
Stored in .xml files
Stored in .dpl files

Then probably a lot more that I don't know about!

If anyone has created a program that can index the default locations for all recently used file lists and read and edit individual entries then would anyone reading this thread please post details.

As you described the way to clear individual entries is from within the program itself but that is really time consuming.

I actually stopped using VLC some time ago and swithched to PotPlayer so I don't even have VLC installed.

For VLC there is a program that I used previously that can index all your videos and create and manage playlists. I still use it with PotPlayer but it only has full functionality when used with VLC installed so I can't help much with instructions or screenshots.

If you move videos around you can just include paths and rescan.

File Safety Check:

You might want to try it so here's the link if you want to test it.

Saleen Video Manager (WMV, MPEG, FLV...)

EDIT: Avoid downloading codec packs as VLC should contain everything that is needed for the software to work.

I never noticed that files couldn't be moved around using Saleen Video Manager. It is possible to rename them though!

Regarding Windows Explorer for photo shuffling - or moving any types of files in groups - I pretty much never use Explorer. Instead I'll use Q-Dir (Portable so no install) with four windows open and move files around by selecting them and dragging them either one at a time or in groups.

For large video files I tend to use TeraCopy. You can drop multiple files into it from multiple locations but you can only move them to a single selected folder.

For moving all files of a particular type (or types) I use File Mover.

I guess we all have our own methods but I find these programs work well!

Okay so here's what I found:

(Installed VLC as non default media player to get Saleen Video Manager to display thumbnails but still use PotPlayer as default player)

VLC stores it's recent file list here:

Start> Run then type

%AppData%\vlc

Press Enter.

In that folder there should be a file named vlc-qt-interface.ini

Make sure that VLC is not running then open vlc-qt-interface.ini using your text editor and scroll down to:

[RecentsMRL]

You can delete entries at will and save the file.

The removed entries will no longer appear in VLC's recent file list.


Before editing vlc-qt-interface.ini

After editing vlc-qt-interface.ini

There is a mistake in the screenshot I posted:


For the first file in the list - deleting the entry involves deleting everything in the path shown in the red box but also should have included the trailing file:/// or in other words everything up to the second drive letter. Sorry if that's not clear!

For anything other than the first entry in the list just delete everything between the space and the following comma.

Don't forget to save the file!

Hopefully that helps. :)

EDIT: I should state that I used the 64bit version of VLC when looking for the recent files list. I guess it's the same in the 32bit version but am not entirely sure.

TDKMate said:

I found the .ini file, but I don't have the [RecentMRL] section. I think that's because, in trying to figure it out, I turned off the 'Save recently played items' option under Preferences, Interface tab.

If you turn that off it clears the entire list.

TDKMate said:

However, Windows still saves the list of files played: if I click on the Start button and then hover over VLC the list still accumulates and shows.

Okay that's totally different. You wanted to clear individual items from a program's list of recently used files. That's not the same as Windows recent files list.

The only easy option for Windows recent files is to clear the lists entirely. If you delete individual items the list just gets repopulated showing older items.

See the tutorial here:

How to Clear Recent Items List in Windows 7

TDKMate said:

if I click on the Start button and then hover over VLC the list still accumulates and shows.

That sounds like a jumplist. Try unpinning VLC fom the Start Menu.

Of clear jumplists:

Jump Lists - Reset and Clear All Items

Again - it's a clear all or clear nothing approach.