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?
....
......