Delete content or tracking in "searches" folder

[Bob]

I am running Vista Home Premium on my box. I discovered the "Searches"
folder. It is in the user account folder that contains all the common
folders like "Documents", "Contacts", "Downloads" etc.. It appears to me
the "Searches" folder tracks every move I make or at least tracks every
email I view or file I open from the "Documents" folder, etc.. Seems to be
similar to the "Recent" folder in Win98. So I thought to set up my cleaning
utility (Ccleaner) to clean (delete) out the folder every time I run the
cleaning utility. Thank goodness I did a manual dry run because it deletes
the files from the original location along with deleting it from the
"Searches" folder. It may seem crazy but that is what happened. I restored
the files from recycle bin.



For example I deleted my "Journal.doc" from the "Searches" folder. Went to
its location where I store it ("Personal" folder in my "Documents" folder)
and it was gone from there also. Luckily it was the dry run and I restored
the file from recycle bin.



How do I stop the "Searches" folder from tracking me? I looked in help and
it did not say much about "Searches" folder. Can this feature be shut off?
I don't think I will ever need to use the feature of saving a search. Or
can the period of time the Searches" folder tracks me be shortened? Ideally
I would like to set up my cleaning utility (Ccleaner) to clean out the
folder every time I run the cleaning utility but that would seem dangerouse
because it might delete files from my other user folders I want to keep.
Any help you can give me would be great.



Bob

 

[Bender]

The following might help.
Right click on the start button and select properties.
Click the Start Menu tab, and then, under Privacy, you can clear what you
like.

 

[Keith Miller \(MVP\)]

Searches are not 'real' folders, they're, well, searches. Whenever you open
a saved search, a search is executed according to the parameters of that
search. The results of the search are the actual files that meet the search
criteria, hence your experience with deleting 'Journal.doc'. So you are not
being 'tracked' in any way other than having the 'date modified' field
updated for files that you modify.

Saved searches are actually text files with a hidden .search-ms extension.
Use 'Send to' or 'Open With...' to open one in notepad & you will see the
xml defining the search.

If you don't like or use the 'Recent' searches, you can delete them. It's
my understanding that 'Everywhere' and 'Indexed Locations' are the basis for
any search executed, so those should be retained.