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Does anyone know a way to clear MRU start menu programs on windows 7 using powershell? I saw a way using a registry edit, but I would prefer if at all possible to avoid that.

Victor Zakharov
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user100541
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  • Is [this](http://www.ehow.com/how_2295202_disable-recently-used-mru-list.html) what you are trying to do? – Victor Zakharov Nov 08 '12 at 20:32
  • I mean I've never seen it done that way so maybe? I mean the manual way of doing it is http://www.windowssquad.com/how-to-turn-off-disable-windows-7-jumplist-recent-list/51/ Otherwise I'm not entirely sure how to go about it with a reg hack. I mean to be perfectly honest, the only reason I want to do this is to clear out the default items already entered into this. I feel like there might be a WMI way of doing it too, but I'm already writing a script in powershell to set certain settings on a several laptops. So I wanted to encorporate that setting change into it. – user100541 Nov 08 '12 at 21:39
  • So only want to disable jumplist history? And not any other MRU items, such as recent files in Word etc. – Victor Zakharov Nov 08 '12 at 21:50
  • No I don't need to touch any of the items really. I mean I want to clear all the default items out, but disabling and reenabling the settings seems to do that so it seems like the easiest thing to do, apparently not :p – user100541 Nov 09 '12 at 16:39

1 Answers1

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If you want to clear recent programs list (one that appears when the start button is pressed), here are your options:

1) Use the following Powershell script and restart Explorer (credit goes here):

del HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist

2) Because you also said disabling recent programs list works for you, here are the two ways to do it:

  • Using a REG File Download (see above link).
  • Through the Local Group Policy Editor (I would recommend this one).

And this is just another useful article that covers related topics and explains how it works in detail:

Clear recently used programs in Start Menu in Windows 7.

Victor Zakharov
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  • So the first one still uses a Regedit, and the second one would be good, but still requires admin access which is something most users don't have so won't really work. – user100541 Nov 09 '12 at 21:16
  • @user100541: Making it work through `Group Policy` should not require admin access from end users. – Victor Zakharov Nov 09 '12 at 21:19
  • When I run gpedit, it says I don't have rights, so I would imagine I wouldn't have rights to modify it through local group policy. – user100541 Nov 09 '12 at 21:59
  • @user100541: You don't modify local group policy on every PC, you do it once for your domain. If you are not a domain administrator, ask your domain administrator to add this setting to the domain policy, which applies to a range of PCs in question. – Victor Zakharov Nov 09 '12 at 22:09
  • See then you're basically saying completely disable the entire setting and not use it at all. I want to clear the default MRU applications on the list: Paint, Calculator, Snipping Tool, Sticky Notes, etc. , disabling the setting and renabling it is just a work around since I don't know any other way to do it. If I wanted that, and if it would be easier to do this by going through the domain admin, then I would, but it isn't so I'm not. – user100541 Nov 09 '12 at 22:23
  • What I want to do, like I've said, is taking all the default items in the start menu MRU list: Calculator, Paint, XPS Viewer, Magnifier, etc. and leave that space blank so the user can fill it on their own without any clutter. Againm one way I knew of doing it manually is turning MRU off then on again. If there is a way to remove those items from the list similar to Devtron's suggestion then that would be great, but all I know is I want all of those items cleared and using a script would be great considering there are hundereds to do. – user100541 Nov 09 '12 at 22:26
  • @user100541: disable through domain group policy, wait 24hrs for the settings to apply (just to be completely sure, normally it takes around 15 minutes) and then re-enable it back. You could also set up a scheduled task on each machine to do `Gpupdate.exe /force` every 10 minutes, then you don't need to wait 24hrs. See [this article on MSDN for more info](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134201.aspx#BKMK_Step1). – Victor Zakharov Nov 09 '12 at 23:04
  • This would be extremely inefficient way to do this. It would either have to be setup in a certain OU or sent to the entire domain. This would force all PCs to shut this setting off then turn it back on. I'm currently working on 1-4 PCs at once. To force something like that out would delete any current MRU lists people already have and like. I only want to **initialize** profiles and make sure a new pc going out is as clean as possible. This would create more work than just the clicks I can already do. I don't think this is going to go anywhere here so thanks for trying to help. – user100541 Nov 12 '12 at 03:07
  • @user100541: this is what I meant - create an OU for new PCs and use that to **initialize**. Guess it depends on the number of PCs you have. If you only need to change 1-4 PCs, the whole topic is not worth it. – Victor Zakharov Nov 12 '12 at 12:18
  • 1-4 at a time, So making a user intialization OU would hypothetically be doable in normal circumstances, but the amount of beurocratic red tape I'd have to break through to do it, isn't something I'm willing to do. I'm not gonna spend half a month trying to get something approved, then to only have it not be approved to have to just do it manually anyway. Thus the reason I want to just use a script that doesn't require any admin rights, or touch registry... – user100541 Nov 12 '12 at 16:45
  • @user100541: changing parameters of another user's account, whether locally or remotely, naturally requires admin privileges (or at least something higher than a regular user). I don't think it will work otherwise. – Victor Zakharov Nov 12 '12 at 18:33