Windows 10: Windows 11 not clearing recent files

I have a bunch of files showing in the file explorer recent list going back several months, many which are indicating they are housed on SharePoint or on one of two OneDrive accounts, only one of which I synch with. However, when I go into the file explorer and select all the one's to be removed, then use the "remove from recent" option, they aren't removed from the list! I've even tried clearing the file explorer history and that doesn't seem to work, either. I'm kind of at my wits end with this as I've not be able to find any other potential solutions online than these two. Short of disablin

:)

 

Recent File List

Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file1

Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file2
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file3
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file4
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file5
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file6
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file7
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file8
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file9
...

you get the idea. ( too lazy to put it in a for loop and test it.

or just open regedit and remove all the fileX from that key.

 

Recent File List

that's all off already dude lol, I'm really surprised there is no fix for the recent files list/MRU in the file menu of programs haha

I appreciate the help, MS really needs to implement a Group Policy or a string that can do that for all programs installed

 

Recent File List

only way I know to clear em out is to remove the reg keys

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Paint\Recent File List.

you can try setting that container to read only but I'm not sure how that will affect it. or a basic powershell/vbscript in taskscheduler to wipe those keys every so often.