Vista Tutorial - Recent Items not updating

The Recent Items list in Vista was working fine. I'm not sure what caused
the problem, but I noticed it stopped updating around the same time I
compressed a number of folders.
When I tried "Clear Recent Items List' by right-clicking on "Recent Items"
in the start menu it would hang and I'd have to restart Windows to get it
back. I finaly got it cleared by turning off the option altogether and then
turning it back on. However, it still doesn't work. If I go directly to the
folder at C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent I do see
shortcuts showing up when I open files but the shortcut is always to the
folder of the item; not the item itself. If I manually edit the shortcut and
point it to the file, it shows up in the Recent Items list and I can click on
it to open it. However, it replaces the modified shortcut with the shortcut
to the folder. I'm fairly certain this is a Vista bug. Anyone else see the
same thing?

Are you using the files!

--

http://www.goldwatches.com/watches.asp?Brand=14
"Pengalo" <Pengalo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0AB57C06-9576-4A58-80B3-FD362397DE7D@microsoft.com...
> The Recent Items list in Vista was working fine. I'm not sure what caused
> the problem, but I noticed it stopped updating around the same time I
> compressed a number of folders.
> When I tried "Clear Recent Items List' by right-clicking on "Recent Items"
> in the start menu it would hang and I'd have to restart Windows to get it
> back. I finaly got it cleared by turning off the option altogether and
> then
> turning it back on. However, it still doesn't work. If I go directly to
> the
> folder at C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent I do
> see
> shortcuts showing up when I open files but the shortcut is always to the
> folder of the item; not the item itself. If I manually edit the shortcut
> and
> point it to the file, it shows up in the Recent Items list and I can click
> on
> it to open it. However, it replaces the modified shortcut with the
> shortcut
> to the folder. I'm fairly certain this is a Vista bug. Anyone else see
> the
> same thing?
>

Not sure what you mean. I open the file from Explorer, work with them while
they are open and then close them from the application. At no point do they
show up in the Recent Items list. Doesn't work when opening from inside the
application, either, although they do show up in the application's recent
documents list (for example, in Word 2007).

Update: some documents that are in Office 2003 format (for ease of use by
others) do show up in Vista's Recent Items list. Maybe an Office 2007 issue?

"James Matthews" wrote:

> Are you using the files!
>
> --
>
> http://www.goldwatches.com/watches.asp?Brand=14
> "Pengalo" <Pengalo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:0AB57C06-9576-4A58-80B3-FD362397DE7D@microsoft.com...
> > The Recent Items list in Vista was working fine. I'm not sure what caused
> > the problem, but I noticed it stopped updating around the same time I
> > compressed a number of folders.
> > When I tried "Clear Recent Items List' by right-clicking on "Recent Items"
> > in the start menu it would hang and I'd have to restart Windows to get it
> > back. I finaly got it cleared by turning off the option altogether and
> > then
> > turning it back on. However, it still doesn't work. If I go directly to
> > the
> > folder at C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent I do
> > see
> > shortcuts showing up when I open files but the shortcut is always to the
> > folder of the item; not the item itself. If I manually edit the shortcut
> > and
> > point it to the file, it shows up in the Recent Items list and I can click
> > on
> > it to open it. However, it replaces the modified shortcut with the
> > shortcut
> > to the folder. I'm fairly certain this is a Vista bug. Anyone else see
> > the
> > same thing?
> >
>

On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:42:03 -0700, Pengalo wrote:

> The Recent Items list in Vista was working fine. I'm not sure what caused
> the problem, but I noticed it stopped updating around the same time I
> compressed a number of folders.
> When I tried "Clear Recent Items List' by right-clicking on "Recent Items"
> in the start menu it would hang and I'd have to restart Windows to get it
> back. I finaly got it cleared by turning off the option altogether and then
> turning it back on. However, it still doesn't work. If I go directly to the
> folder at C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent I do see
> shortcuts showing up when I open files but the shortcut is always to the
> folder of the item; not the item itself. If I manually edit the shortcut and
> point it to the file, it shows up in the Recent Items list and I can click on
> it to open it. However, it replaces the modified shortcut with the shortcut
> to the folder. I'm fairly certain this is a Vista bug. Anyone else see the
> same thing?

Properties for start orb. Make sure recent items is enabled on the start
menu tab.

Also check "history" settings. If you delete "History" in various places
within Vista (Start Menu properties, for example) or with a third party
internet security program, the list is erased. Change history settings so
that the trail is retained.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User

I am having the same problem. I have tried the registry mod startmenuinit,
checked the boxes in the start menu properites to no avail. I am not sure
where the history items you mentioned are. This problem, for me, started
after a series of problems due to a recent McAfee upgrade. I noticed that you
mentioned the internet security programs -- any idea what to look for there?

"Sharon F" wrote:

I also have the same problem, however I have noticed that my Admin. user account "Recent Items" area does update properly. Only my standard user accts. don't update the Recent Items area. I've found that by going to the folder identified by Pengalo above (C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent) my Admin. user ID has a "Recent Items" file while my other user ID's don't have this file. So that's the issue. The question is how do we correct it? I could copy the file from Admin. and paste it in one of the user ID's to see if that helps but I think there should also be some Registry changes required to get it to be used properly.

I have been troubleshooting this for some time and found that file in the
location you mentioned, so it is there but not working. It has a special file
icon associated with it. I tried to simply move a file to that directory but
it will not let me do that. It simply doesn't respond. I agree that there is
something in the registry causing the problem but I have no idea what to do.
Does anyone else have a solution to this problem?

"compTMan" wrote:

If you've used a 3rd party cleaner, it may have deleted the desktop.ini in
the Recent Items folder. If you navigate to C:\Users\(Your
Name)AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows, does the Recent Items folder have a
special icon? If it doesn't, and only shows the generic manila one, or if the
folder is just called Recent (without the word Items), right-click on the
Recent folder and choose Delete. Log Off and then Log On. Open your Start
Menu and type, in the Start Search box:

shell:recent

Press Enter. This should restore the folder with the correct desktop.ini,
which will then restore the right-click context menu item "Clear Recent
Items List". (Right-click inside the Recent Items folder that pops up to
test that, after having typed shell:recent).

"compTMan" <compTMan.2ws8c6@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message news:compTMan.2ws8c6@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net...

Thanks for trying but that doesn't work. I have used a third party cleaner
(Tweak VI) but the folder is the special folder for recent items and right
clicking on recent items in the start menu has always had the clear recent
items box. I tried your procedure anyway. The first problem I ran into was
there was no delete option in the right click dialogue box. I tried moving it
to another folder and that worked. BAsed on the warnings, there is a
desktop.ini file in that folder. I then followed your suggested - logged on
and logged off, the selected Start the Search and typed shell:recent. The
only response was that it could not fin that item. I tried opening a word
file, making changes and closing it. Then I checked recent items but it still
didn't contain the recently opened file.

I use McAfee for security and I know they had a bad update in August that I
am still trying to fix. I wonder if that could have caused the problem. I am
still trying to get McAfee to run after hours of troubleshooting with McAfee.

Does anyone have any other suggestions. This is a very irritating problem
for me.

"dean-dean" wrote:

Well, my suggestion to compTMan was for the Recent Items folder that met the criteria of a generic icon and the name Recent, instead
of Recent Items (which criteria indicates the desktop.ini is missing). Too, if the desktop.ini is missing, Delete will be in the
context menu when right-clicking on the folder.

Check this key in the Registry Editor:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

In the left-hand pane, the default Data for the Name "Recent" (no quotes) should be:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent

(Note that in the registry, the folder is called Recent, not Recent Items: the path is exactly as written. The "Recent Items" name
is a function of the desktop.ini.). And check this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

In the left-hand pane, the default Data for the Name "Recent" (no quotes) should be:

C:\Users\(Your Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent

Should you need to modify the Data values, log off and back on. Then type shell:recent to see if the folder pops up...


"Earl R" <EarlR@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:BC986954-5413-4742-9269-188AA5BC4D38@xxxxxx