How do you clear recent documents and programs from start menu in vista?

there is a setting in the properties of the start menu to not show these.

How do you clear recent documents and programs from start menu in vista?

That's not what I asked

I know how to not show them, but I would like to know how to clear them

Here is a vbs script that will clear out the My Recent Documents

Save as ClearRecent.vbs

Dim Act	: Set Act = CreateObject("Wscript.shell")
Dim Fso	: Set Fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Dim User   : User = Act.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%userProfile%\recent\")
Dim Folder : Set Folder = Fso.GetFolder(User)
Dim Files  : Set Files = Folder.Files
Dim objFile 
  For Each objFile in Files
   Fso.DeleteFile(objFile.Path), True 
  Next 
   Act.Popup "Completed Script",5,"Finished",4128
'-> Deletes The File If Used from A SFX Uncomment To Make Active
'   If Fso.FileExists(WScript.ScriptFullName) Then 
'	Fso.DeleteFile(WScript.ScriptFullName)
'   End If

Edited April 25, 200719 yr by gunsmokingman

I take it there is no built in function in vista for this then?

I take it there is no built in function in vista for this then?

No, there is such function in Vista. Right click on "Recent Items" item in Start Menu and choose "Clear Recent Items List".