Vista - Deleting shortcuts to non-existing files

I have noticed a bunch of shortcuts to non-existing, deleted documents when
searching for something. The docs were moved and physically deleted from the
system but the shortcuts remain. Since my employees have access to the
system, I don't want them to see the shortcuts because even though the docs
are gone, the names are such as "JJ Jones Performance Review.Doc" and "2007
Salary Plan.xls", etc.. I'd rather they didn't know right now.

Anyway, in Search it showed the links to:

Recent(c:\users\cjadmin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows)

There is nothing in that folder (and I'm displaying hidden and system
files). I had to even mess around with security to view it.

If I check the properties of the "link" returned from the search, it shows a
file of type "lnk" and security info is "unavailable". And I can't find any
entries in the registry either.

Any ideas how I can remove these so they are not displayed?

I was able to clear this up by rebuilding the search index. Of course, I
have no clue why search brought back stuff that was deleted.

The shorcuts came from:

"C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent"

the contents of which are used to build the 'Recent Items' list on the Start
Menu. Shortcuts here are not necessarily deleted when their target ceases
to exist.

Two points:

1) If you haven't allowed other users to access your files, they wouldn't
show on a search for someone using a different login.

2) If you don't use 'Recent Items', you can clear the checkbox found on the
Start Menu properties dialog labeled: 'Store & display a list of recently
opened files'


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

"Mark B." <MarkB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3EAC8B39-AFA8-4552-AEB7-71FAE0218CC3@microsoft.com...
>
> I was able to clear this up by rebuilding the search index. Of course, I
> have no clue why search brought back stuff that was deleted.

One clarification - there weren't any shortcuts in that folder, so it wasn't
like there were orphaned links. They were gone, but were still showing up
in the Search results, so I think it had something to do with the search
index. Once I rebuilt it, they went away.

"Mark B." wrote:

> Thanks, Keith. I'll try it. But since they do log on under a differnet ID,
> it probably isn't an issue. Thanks.
>
> "Keith Miller MVP" wrote:
>
> > The shorcuts came from:
> >
> > "C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent"
> >
> > the contents of which are used to build the 'Recent Items' list on the Start
> > Menu. Shortcuts here are not necessarily deleted when their target ceases
> > to exist.
> >
> > Two points:
> >
> > 1) If you haven't allowed other users to access your files, they wouldn't
> > show on a search for someone using a different login.
> >
> > 2) If you don't use 'Recent Items', you can clear the checkbox found on the
> > Start Menu properties dialog labeled: 'Store & display a list of recently
> > opened files'
> >
> >
> > --
> > Good Luck,
> >
> > Keith
> > Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
> >
> > "Mark B." <MarkB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:3EAC8B39-AFA8-4552-AEB7-71FAE0218CC3@microsoft.com...
> > >
> > > I was able to clear this up by rebuilding the search index. Of course, I
> > > have no clue why search brought back stuff that was deleted.
> >
> >

Thanks, Keith. I'll try it. But since they do log on under a differnet ID,
it probably isn't an issue. Thanks.

"Keith Miller MVP" wrote:

> The shorcuts came from:
>
> "C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent"
>
> the contents of which are used to build the 'Recent Items' list on the Start
> Menu. Shortcuts here are not necessarily deleted when their target ceases
> to exist.
>
> Two points:
>
> 1) If you haven't allowed other users to access your files, they wouldn't
> show on a search for someone using a different login.
>
> 2) If you don't use 'Recent Items', you can clear the checkbox found on the
> Start Menu properties dialog labeled: 'Store & display a list of recently
> opened files'
>
>
> --
> Good Luck,
>
> Keith
> Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
>
> "Mark B." <MarkB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:3EAC8B39-AFA8-4552-AEB7-71FAE0218CC3@microsoft.com...
> >
> > I was able to clear this up by rebuilding the search index. Of course, I
> > have no clue why search brought back stuff that was deleted.
>
>