How to Clear the Recent Documents List When You Exit Windows

If you have a Windows Home edition, you will have to edit the Windows Registry to make these changes. You can also do it this way if you have Windows Pro or Enterprise, but feel more comfortable working in the Registry than Group Policy Editor. (If you have Pro or Enterprise, though, we recommend using the easier Group Policy Editor, as described in the next section.)

Standard warning: Registry Editor is a powerful tool and misusing it can render your system unstable or even inoperable. This is a pretty simple hack and as long as you stick to the instructions, you shouldn’t have any problems. That said, if you’ve never worked with it before, consider reading about how to use the Registry Editor before you get started. And definitely back up the Registry (and your computer!) before making changes.

To get started, open the Registry Editor by hitting Start and typing “regedit.” Press Enter to open Registry Editor and give it permission to make changes to your PC.

In the Registry Editor, use the left sidebar to navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\

Next, you’re going to create a new value in the Explorer key. Right-click the Explorer key and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value “ClearRecentDocsOnExit.”

Double-click the new ClearRecentDocsOnExit value to open its properties window. Change the value from 0 to 1 in the “Value data” box and then click “OK.”

You can now close Registry Editor. The next time you sign out of your user account, or shut down or restart your PC, your recent documents will be cleared. To reverse the change, just follow the same steps and set the ClearRecentDocsOnExit value back to 0.
There is a more convenient way to clear it. It is Wise Care 365. You can clear it by this program with several Clicks.