Safe to delete shortcut files in Recent folder?

[Guest Markkk]

In my Documents and Settings/Owner folder, there’s a folder called Recent,

which contains several hundred .lnk files with names matching files in the My

Documents folder. They are identified as shortcuts, but I haven’t knowingly

created them, so why are they there and can I safely delete them? The icon

for the Recent folder is different than other folder icons in having a clock

on it, so it may indicate that its contents have time limits on them, but

some of the .lnk files are 3 years old, which may mean I have to manually

delete them to clean up unused files. Is that true?

[Guest Adam]

RE: Safe to delete shortcut files in Recent folder?

 

These files are there to help your productivity, under Start menu you should

see under default settings My Recent Documents - those files will appear

here. Your safe to delete these files.

 

You can delete these files another way, if you have the newer style start

menu (i.e. the big style one) do the following:

 

Right click on the Start button > click properties > Click on the Start menu

tab (if not already selected) > Click customize > Click on the Advanced tab >

Near the bottom under recent documents click Clear list.

 

If your not sure what your doing, always make backups of important documents.

 

Hope this helps!

 

"Markkk" wrote:

>

> In my Documents and Settings/Owner folder, there’s a folder called Recent,

> which contains several hundred .lnk files with names matching files in the My

> Documents folder. They are identified as shortcuts, but I haven’t knowingly

> created them, so why are they there and can I safely delete them? The icon

> for the Recent folder is different than other folder icons in having a clock

> on it, so it may indicate that its contents have time limits on them, but

> some of the .lnk files are 3 years old, which may mean I have to manually

> delete them to clean up unused files. Is that true?

>

[Guest Markkk]

RE: Safe to delete shortcut files in Recent folder?

 

 

Thank you. That was wonderful advice. It’s nice to delete a few unnecessary

files, since the shortcuts went to files no longer much in use.

 

 

"Adam" wrote:

> These files are there to help your productivity, under Start menu you should

> see under default settings My Recent Documents - those files will appear

> here. Your safe to delete these files.

>

> You can delete these files another way, if you have the newer style start

> menu (i.e. the big style one) do the following:

>

> Right click on the Start button > click properties > Click on the Start menu

> tab (if not already selected) > Click customize > Click on the Advanced tab >

> Near the bottom under recent documents click Clear list.

>

> If your not sure what your doing, always make backups of important documents.

>

> Hope this helps!

>

> "Markkk" wrote:

>

> >

> > In my Documents and Settings/Owner folder, there’s a folder called Recent,

> > which contains several hundred .lnk files with names matching files in the My

> > Documents folder. They are identified as shortcuts, but I haven’t knowingly

> > created them, so why are they there and can I safely delete them? The icon

> > for the Recent folder is different than other folder icons in having a clock

> > on it, so it may indicate that its contents have time limits on them, but

> > some of the .lnk files are 3 years old, which may mean I have to manually

> > delete them to clean up unused files. Is that true?

> >

[Guest Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Re: Safe to delete shortcut files in Recent folder?

 

See also:

 

How To Display, Use, and Clear "My Recent Documents" on the Start Menu in

Windows XP:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/307875

 

--

Regards,

 

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]

The Winhelponline Blog http://www.winhelponline.com/blog

 

 

"Markkk" <Markkk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:1BA93E28-9F93-4AA0-B516-02A54CB8D672@microsoft.com...

>

> Thank you. That was wonderful advice. It's nice to delete a few

> unnecessary

> files, since the shortcuts went to files no longer much in use.

>

>

> "Adam" wrote:

>

>> These files are there to help your productivity, under Start menu you

>> should

>> see under default settings My Recent Documents - those files will appear

>> here. Your safe to delete these files.

>>

>> You can delete these files another way, if you have the newer style start

>> menu (i.e. the big style one) do the following:

>>

>> Right click on the Start button > click properties > Click on the Start

>> menu

>> tab (if not already selected) > Click customize > Click on the Advanced

>> tab >

>> Near the bottom under recent documents click Clear list.

>>

>> If your not sure what your doing, always make backups of important

>> documents.

>>

>> Hope this helps!

>>

>> "Markkk" wrote:

>>

>> >

>> > In my Documents and Settings/Owner folder, there's a folder called

>> > Recent,

>> > which contains several hundred .lnk files with names matching files in

>> > the My

>> > Documents folder. They are identified as shortcuts, but I haven't

>> > knowingly

>> > created them, so why are they there and can I safely delete them? The

>> > icon

>> > for the Recent folder is different than other folder icons in having a

>> > clock

>> > on it, so it may indicate that its contents have time limits on them,

>> > but

>> > some of the .lnk files are 3 years old, which may mean I have to

>> > manually

>> > delete them to clean up unused files. Is that true?

>> >