Windows has a few strange characteristics when it comes to storing information about recently opened documents or recently typed or executed commands. This is, in most cases, favorable, as it saves a lot of time in browsing through to the document location again and again.However, there are instances when you would want the entire history to be unavailable. There are cases when you would want to delete certain commands from the run history. This article demonstrates methods on how you can delete your run history or even selected commands in your history.
What Is Run History?
Whenever we have to type in a command in Windows, we go to the Run dialog box and type the command and press OK. For example, explorer.exe. Now, if the command existed in the run history, you would be suggested the command on just typing ‘e.’
Let’s take a look at the different ways we can clear this run history.
Edit Through the Registry
The Run history is stored in the registry, RunMRU. In order to access this registry, you need to open the registry editor. Run an instance of the command prompt or Run dialog and type in regedit. This opens up the registry dialog box. Now, go toHKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Explorer>RunMRU.
Once done, on the right pane, you will find all recent commands. There are three columns: Name, Type and Data. Under the Data column, check the command you wish to delete and under Name the column for the same row, right click and select delete.
By Changing Windows Properties
The above section demonstrates how to delete selected commands. This section will show us how to delete the entire Run history. In order to do so, follow the steps below.
- Right click on the taskbar, go to Properties.
- Select Start Menu.
- Uncheck the property, “Store and display recently opened programs in the Start menu.”
- Apply the changes and select OK.
This not only ensures to remove the Run history, but also removes the cache of all recent document links.Using Software
As of this date, there is a number of programs available in the market for clearing out all history including the Run Command History. Some of them are Advanced Windows Care Personal , Wise Registry Cleaner, Glary Utilities, Wise Disk Cleaner and many more. I personally use CCleaner, because it is a freeware and is fast. It removes unused and temporary files from your system, which allows it to run faster and gives you more HDD space.
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