Click start\Run and type regedit and navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer Right click in an empty spot in the right pan and create a new DWORD value for NoRecentDocsHistory and NoRecentDocsMenu, or if they are there already modify the existing value by double clicking. Set the Data Value to 1 and save the value and close the registry editor. The next time you start Windows, your recent documents folder would remain empty and the menu option will no longer be there and won't track your open documents.