cached list of files and searching for files

[David C]

Two issues here.

1) When I go Start->Run and type "c:" the dropdown shows all files
that I have ever opened, it seems. And most of them don't even
exist. I guess XP attempts to help you out with opening files, but
the dropdown is cluttered with files that I don't even remember
having. So how can I clear them out?

2) Searching for files

I open up a window to search for files. I type in a string for "All
or part of the file name:" Well, I found out long ago that it will
only look through files with certain extensions, and if you want to
have files with an extension included, you have to put that into the
registry.

That angered me so much that I never bothered to follow up after that,
but I need to find some files which contain certain phrases. What if
I am looking for a certain word, but I have a gazillion different file
extensions that I am not even familiar with? (My Gawd, this pisses me
off)

 

[WTC]

Two issues here.

1) When I go Start->Run and type "c:" the dropdown shows
all file that I have ever opened, it seems. And most of them
don't even exist. I guess XP attempts to help you out with
opening files, but the dropdown is cluttered with files that I
don't even remember having. So how can I clear them out?

Run the following command in a Command Prompt Window.

REG DELETE "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU"
/va /f

You will need to Log off then log on for the changes to take affect.

---

You could manually edit the following location in the registry:

[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU]

Delete all the entries in the right-hand pane of the registry edit.

You will need to Log off then log on for the changes to take affect.

2) Searching for files

I open up a window to search for files. I type in a string for
"All or part of the file name:" Well, I found out long ago that
it will only look through files with certain extensions, and if
you want to have files with an extension included, you have
to put that into the registry.

That angered me so much that I never bothered to follow up
after that, but I need to find some files which contain certain
phrases. What if I am looking for a certain word, but I have
a gazillion different file extensions that I am not even familiar
with? (My Gawd, this pisses me off)

Use Method 2, this will index all your files regardless of file type.

Using the "A word or phrase in the file" search criterion may not work
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309173

 

[David C]

Run the following command in a Command Prompt Window.

REG DELETE "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU"
/va /f

You will need to Log off then log on for the changes to take affect.

---

You could manually edit the following location in the registry:

[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU]

Delete all the entries in the right-hand pane of the registry edit.

You will need to Log off then log on for the changes to take affect.

That clears up the list somewhat, but just a fraction of it. When I
type "c", then lots of entries that look like this show up

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/David%20Cho/Application%20Data/Real/Msg/104_1174092152/ipm.htm

After I did what you said to do, these are the only ones remaining.
They all start with "file:///C:/" and there are lots of them.

Use Method 2, this will index all your files regardless of file type.

Using the "A word or phrase in the file" search criterion may not workhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/309173

Thank you. That helps. I don't know why microsoft decided to go that
route. NT servers don't behave that way and I see no value in the
default behavior.

 

[WTC]

Run the following command in a Command Prompt Window.

REG DELETE
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU"
/va /f

You will need to Log off then log on for the changes to take affect.

---

You could manually edit the following location in the registry:

[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU]

Delete all the entries in the right-hand pane of the registry edit.

You will need to Log off then log on for the changes to take affect.

That clears up the list somewhat, but just a fraction of it. When I
type "c", then lots of entries that look like this show up

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/David%20Cho/Application%20Data/Real/Msg/104_1174092152/ipm.htm

After I did what you said to do, these are the only ones remaining.
They all start with "file:///C:/" and there are lots of them.

Go into the Internet Options in the Control Panel and clear/delete your
History and Temporary Internet Files. This should clear the entries you are
seeing in the Run dialog box.

Thank you. That helps. I don't know why microsoft decided to go that
route. NT servers don't behave that way and I see no value in the
default behavior.

You're welcome David.

 

[David C]

Go into the Internet Options in the Control Panel and clear/delete your
History and Temporary Internet Files. This should clear the entries you are
seeing in the Run dialog box.

That does the trick! I never thought to use that because all of the
entries were local files.

 

[WTC]

That does the trick! I never thought to use that because all of the
entries were local files.

You're welcome David.