Vista Tutorial - Recent items list (lost)

Hi, after running Adaware 2007 and removing some items, my "clear recent
items list" disappeared, how do I get it back?

Recall, when I click, Start / Recent Items / right-click, I suppose to get a
choice, "clear recent items list", but no more.

Can anyone help?

It appears that Adaware deleted the (hidden, system) desktop.ini file inside
your Recent folder. If you navigate to C:\Users\(Your
Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\ there should be a folder called
"Recent Items" with a special icon. If the desktop.ini file is missing, it
will appear as a normal folder with the standard manila-colored icon,
perhaps named "Recent" (not "Recent Items"). Right-clicking on the folder
should have the context menu choice "Clear Recent Items List".

"lights out" <nospam@northstar.com> wrote in message
news:1E301A9D-B6E8-4C7C-AD29-78B8C18B99B9@microsoft.com...
> Hi, after running Adaware 2007 and removing some items, my "clear recent
> items list" disappeared, how do I get it back?
>
> Recall, when I click, Start / Recent Items / right-click, I suppose to get
> a choice, "clear recent items list", but no more.
>
> Can anyone help?

Thank you dean-dean, but additional steps needed.

1. I copied the "desktop.ini" from another admin user profile within my pc.
That didn't work, the "recent" folder remained as a
generic folder, "not" a system folder, hence, I still don't have the context
menu choice, "clear recent items list".

2. I right-click the "recent" generic folder, chose properties, click
"customize" tab. I click the "restore default", click apply,
nope, did not work.

3. I repeat step 2 above, this time, I click the "change" icon, click
"restore default", it gave me a warning msg that if I change the
icon image, something about ... may not work correctly, I click apply
anyway.

4. I rebooted pc. whoa... the "recent" generic folder now shows "system"
folder icon. I right-click "recent items" from the
Start Oval... yep, the context menu now shows the "clear recent items list"
option. It's back!

Now the question is, is the "desktop.ini" I'd copied from another admin user
profile partially corrected this issue? If yes, would
that "desktop.ini" (which points to so class root CLID {xxxxxxx....} means
my "recent items" system folder is actually borrowing
from the other admin user profile?
....
......
"dean-dean" <dean-dean@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:uWfGoC$uHHA.4800@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
> It appears that Adaware deleted the (hidden, system) desktop.ini file
> inside your Recent folder. If you navigate to C:\Users\(Your
> Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\ there should be a folder called >
> "Recent Items" with a special icon. If the desktop.ini file is missing,
> it will appear as a normal folder with the standard manila-colored icon,
> perhaps named "Recent" (not "Recent Items"). Right-clicking on the folder
> should have the context menu choice "Clear Recent Items List".
>
> "lights out" <nospam@northstar.com> wrote in message
> news:1E301A9D-B6E8-4C7C-AD29-78B8C18B99B9@microsoft.com...
>
> Hi, after running Adaware 2007 and removing some items, my "clear recent
> items list" disappeared, how do I get it back?
>
> Recall, when I click, Start / Recent Items / right-click, I suppose to get
> a choice, "clear recent items list", but no more.
>
> Can anyone help?

Possible solution for others.

Questions remain...
Would C:\Windows\System32\desktop.ini work, too?
If not, can a new file be created?
Where does a single user copy it without having to create another account?

a) paste desktop.ini into effected folder
b) restore folder default
c) restore folder's default icon
d) reboot/restart

I'm not enough of a geek to figure it out.

KB

"lights out" wrote in message
news:32611845-C7DD-4FB4-89B8-976B827BA1AF@microsoft.com...
> Thank you dean-dean, but additional steps needed.
>
> 1. I copied the "desktop.ini" from another admin user profile within my
> pc. That didn't work, the "recent" folder remained as a
> generic folder, "not" a system folder, hence, I still don't have the
> context menu choice, "clear recent items list".
>
> 2. I right-click the "recent" generic folder, chose properties, click
> "customize" tab. I click the "restore default", click apply,
> nope, did not work.
>
> 3. I repeat step 2 above, this time, I click the "change" icon, click
> "restore default", it gave me a warning msg that if I change the
> icon image, something about ... may not work correctly, I click apply
> anyway.
>
> 4. I rebooted pc. whoa... the "recent" generic folder now shows "system"
> folder icon. I right-click "recent items" from the
> Start Oval... yep, the context menu now shows the "clear recent items
> list" option. It's back!
>
> Now the question is, is the "desktop.ini" I'd copied from another admin
> user profile partially corrected this issue? If yes, would
> that "desktop.ini" (which points to so class root CLID {xxxxxxx....}
> means my "recent items" system folder is actually borrowing
> from the other admin user profile?
> ...
> .....
> "dean-dean" <dean-dean@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:uWfGoC$uHHA.4800@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>
>> It appears that Adaware deleted the (hidden, system) desktop.ini file
>> inside your Recent folder. If you navigate to C:\Users\(Your
>> Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\ there should be a folder called
>> > "Recent Items" with a special icon. If the desktop.ini file is
>> missing, it will appear as a normal folder with the standard
>> manila-colored icon, perhaps named "Recent" (not "Recent Items").
>> Right-clicking on the folder should have the context menu choice "Clear
>> Recent Items List".
>>
>> "lights out" <nospam@northstar.com> wrote in message
>> news:1E301A9D-B6E8-4C7C-AD29-78B8C18B99B9@microsoft.com...
>>
>> Hi, after running Adaware 2007 and removing some items, my "clear recent
>> items list" disappeared, how do I get it back?
>>
>> Recall, when I click, Start / Recent Items / right-click, I suppose to
>> get a choice, "clear recent items list", but no more.
>>
>> Can anyone help?
>

Good quesion, KB, but I didn't have that opportunity to find out (about
System32's desktop.ini file as the replacement).

However, I always suggest to my friends, that, always create another "admin"
user acct as a backup. Once your
current admin user acct gets corrupted, generally, only another admin user
acct allows you to make certain system
changes.

As for desktop.ini, I think Windows generally creates a new one if the
original gets deleted. However, we're working
with Vista, it's a bit more complex than, say, XP or 98, due to security
restrictions. But as you can see, when Adaware
deleted my original desktop.ini, my "recent items" system folder
automatically converted to a "generic" folder. But the
idea is, it looks like we can "convert" the generic folder back to a system
folder type.

Lights out....
...
.....
"KristleBawl" <kristlebawl@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23ce81wCvHHA.3724@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Possible solution for others.
>
> Questions remain...
> Would C:\Windows\System32\desktop.ini work, too?
> If not, can a new file be created?
> Where does a single user copy it without having to create another account?
>
> a) paste desktop.ini into effected folder
> b) restore folder default
> c) restore folder's default icon
> d) reboot/restart
>
> I'm not enough of a geek to figure it out.
>
> KB
>
> "lights out" wrote in message
> news:32611845-C7DD-4FB4-89B8-976B827BA1AF@microsoft.com...
> Thank you dean-dean, but additional steps needed.
>
> 1. I copied the "desktop.ini" from another admin user profile within my
> pc. That didn't work, the "recent" folder remained as a
> generic folder, "not" a system folder, hence, I still don't have the
> context menu choice, "clear recent items list".
>
> 2. I right-click the "recent" generic folder, chose properties, click
> "customize" tab. I click the "restore default", click apply,
> nope, did not work.
>
> 3. I repeat step 2 above, this time, I click the "change" icon, click
> "restore default", it gave me a warning msg that if I change the
> icon image, something about ... may not work correctly, I click apply
> anyway.
>
> 4. I rebooted pc. whoa... the "recent" generic folder now shows "system"
> folder icon. I right-click "recent items" from the
> Start Oval... yep, the context menu now shows the "clear recent items
> list" option. It's back!
>
> Now the question is, is the "desktop.ini" I'd copied from another admin
> user profile partially corrected this issue? If yes, would
> that "desktop.ini" (which points to so class root CLID {xxxxxxx....} means
> my "recent items" system folder is actually borrowing
> from the other admin user profile?
> ...
> .....
> "dean-dean" <dean-dean@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:uWfGoC$uHHA.4800@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
> It appears that Adaware deleted the (hidden, system) desktop.ini file
> inside your Recent folder. If you navigate to C:\Users\(Your
> Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\ there should be a folder called
> "Recent Items" with a special icon. If the desktop.ini file is
> missing, it will appear as a normal folder with the standard
> manila-colored icon, perhaps named "Recent" (not "Recent Items").
> Right-clicking on the folder should have the context menu choice "Clear
> Recent Items List".
>
> "lights out" <nospam@northstar.com> wrote in message
> news:1E301A9D-B6E8-4C7C-AD29-78B8C18B99B9@microsoft.com...
>
> Hi, after running Adaware 2007 and removing some items, my "clear recent
> items list" disappeared, how do I get it back?
>
> Recall, when I click, Start / Recent Items / right-click, I suppose to get
> a choice, "clear recent items list", but no more.
>
> Can anyone help?
>