How Do I Erase Photoshop Usage Tracks?

How do I erase Photoshop usage tracks with CCleaner?

Windows 7.

I have Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 on my computer.

Usually CCleaner lists all programs it can erase in the Applications checklist.

It does indeed list Adobe Acropbat 10.0 & Adobe Reader 10.0 in Applications > Applications. It also lists Adobe Flash Player in Applications > Multimedia.

There is also something called "Adobe Air" in Applications > Utilities. I have left this one unchecked as I am not sure what it does.

I would like to erase the history of all images opened with Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 when I run CCleaner.

To do this I would place the location in Windows > Advanced > Custom Files and Folders.

I have already done this with a few other files & folders.

The problem is I cannot locate where Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 keeps its history & usage lists.

Once I locate them I can add them to CCleaner's Custom Files & Folders list to erase.

Can anyone help me on this matter?

Thank you.

Download and unzip and run RegShot.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/RegShot_d965.html

Launch Photoshop.

Run Regshot and take the first Shot and keep it running

Use Photoshop to create history and usage and then close Photoshop.

Take the second shot with Regshot.

Click "Compare" and you will get a list of every file, folder, and registry key / value that changed during the time between the two shots.

These changes include irrelevant junk caused by leaving your browser running - it may be easier to close your browser before running Regshot.

Hopefully you will spot the changes made by Photoshop.

I'm also running PSE10 so once I get my computer (FedEx says tomorrow )I'll install adobe and see what is needed ( I thought we already had a winapp2 entry though so maybe if we someone will post it first)

At least with CS6 the "recently used files" are stored foolishly.

I found them in registry: HKCU\Software\Adobe\Photoshop\60.0\VisitedDirs and in file: %AppData%\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6\Adobe Photoshop CS6 Settings\Adobe Photoshop X64 CS6 Prefs.psp

I don't have Photoshop installed anymore, but what I remember removing regkeys is not enough. I had to delete also the .psp (settings) file.

Hmmmm.... It sounds like this is not going to be as easy as erasing your average other usage tracks.

I always find altering the Registry scary.

I will be back at the computer in question (the one I use Photoshop on) in a few days.

Hopefully in the interim, some quicker & easier solution will present itself.

If not, I will download the program Alan suggests.

Thanks, Alan, Nergal and Nodles!

Download and unzip and run RegShot.

http://www.majorgeek...gShot_d965.html

Fantastico' !! I've been looking around for something lightweight which does exactly this. This is one little gem of a utility.

Not only that but it notifies you of changes to files, such as updating logs or attributes. Great to see what a program touches.

That Reg Shot is a pretty small download - 155Kb.

I'll give it a try over the weekend when I am at the computer that has Photoshop installed.

I'll see if it can tell me where the registry changes are after I load & edit a photo on Photoshop.

You'd think that in the year 2013 that your average photo-editing program would include a simple way to erase usage tracks.

AVAST finds RegShot "suspicious" but allowable.

I wonder if there is another way I can use CCleaner to remove Usage Tracks from PhotoShop Elements 10.

Does anyone have any other ideas ?

avast is only worried because routines that regshot can do look like routines some malware do, same reason that sometimes the ccleaner installer gets flagged.

that said I've finally got my computer so what all would you like removed.

Recently opened list

anything else?

Just coming at this from another direction.

Would disabling the storing of recently opened files work for you? I have a much older version of Photoshop, but I would guess that this would be a common feature retained in all versions.

In my version, I go to "Preferences\File Handling", and set the "Recent File list contains .." to "0", as shown here ...

post-8751-0-07792400-1361060590_thumb.jpg

This immediately empties the "Recent file List", no longer stores "Recent Files" and greys out the feature ...

post-8751-0-56906500-1361060737_thumb.jpg

Just a thought.

:)

EDIT: It could of course be enabled again if needed.

well shazbat! I found the registry entries cleaned them and darned if not only did PSE10 remember the locations/file names (even after a computer restart) but it recreated the registry entries. It's not coming from hklm either nor any appdata locations (except maybe within the actual settings files but I couldn't read them (not plain text files)

I'm stuck for now…

our version of Dennis' suggest is the "Saving Files" pref

Edit: changing to 0

exiting program

reopening changing to 10

also brings back the regkeys

sadly the answer in short maybe be that this is an impossible task :(

%AppData%\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6\Adobe Photoshop CS6 Settings\Adobe Photoshop X64 CS6 Prefs.psp

It's not coming from hklm either nor any appdata locations (except maybe within the actual settings files but I couldn't read them (not plain text files)

What if you rename/move/delete the prefs file from %AppData%?

If I remember correctly, the history was clean when I deleted the file. You might also have to remove the regkeys.

yeah, I'm not going to do that test as I don't believe CCleaner should be used to completely wipe out an app's prefs

but I think you are right as PSE10=CS6lite

Seeker1 doesn't make any mention of a corporate environment, so I'm assuming it's a personal computer, hence my suggestion to disable the feature completely.

Set it to "0". Period. The "Recent Files" list stays disabled and empty.

Resetting wasn't part of my plan. :)

EDIT: Extra info ... Just checked and nothing listed in the registry at the above mentioned reg location, and nothing pertaining to "Recent Files" in the "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Prefs.psp" file.

EDIT: and nothing pertaining to "Recent Files" in the "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Prefs.psp" file.

I think it may be something introduced in cs5(or6)/PSE8(or9or10)

Damn. Just been trying a few things based upon the above posts, and sadly, even with the recent files list disabled, Photoshop still stores them, and they reappear if the feature is activated.

The disabling thing is only good if it's left that way permanently, and, if other users of the computer wouldn't have a clue how to enable it again.

It's a personal computer - I can do what I wish on it.

I have not tried to disable the stored photos but it appears that this would accomplish nothing as they are stopred anyway and not shown until the feature is reactivated.

This seems like a major flaw in Photoshop in that one keeps permanent records of work performed.

Again, at my level of knowledge I am very wary of tinkering with the Registry.

I an beginning to fear that there is no way at all to stop saving records of past work.

- Seeker

Hi Seeker.

I'd forgotten about this thread to be honest, but I'll have another dig at it with a slightly more recent version I have, but don't hold out too much hope as it seems to be an almost impossible problem to crack.

Maybe the other guys may have something new.

The list of recent files is encoded in "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Prefs.psp", for CS2 or other respective versions.

This is located in, "C:\Documents and Settings\UserXXXXXX\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop\9.0\Adobe Photoshop CS2 Settings"

You can kill the file list by deleting this file. Photoshop will the run like you're starting it for the first time. It will recreate the file with 0 entries in the Open Recent dropdown.

I don't believe (but did not test) if it will affect your product registration. You also need to be aware that your preferences will be set to default.

The solution I use is to create a preferences file, tweak everything up the way I like it, then save the "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Prefs.psp" file to something like RESET.xyz

And if and when I want to reset the file list to zero recent (and as a bonus, restore the preferences to MY defaults) I manually copy the RESET.xyz over the "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Prefs.psp". You can do this with 1-click batch file which does the copy operation for you.

See! Now I've just replaced the file that has all the recent names with one that has 0 recent names. And, as a bonus, made sure my preferences were set back to MY settings!

Looks like you can do this with anything in that folder, like backing up your color and brush settings and other things. You'll have to experiment and test things.

Is there a program that looks into the "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Prefs.psp" file and edits it and kills the files? ..none that I'm aware of. So brute force it is!

A safer way to do this, would be to have a folder of 31 tiny pictures, with bogus unimportant names like

null-1.jpg

null-2.jpg

null-3.jpg

.

.

null-31.jpg

And you select all 31 pictures and drop them into photoshop, or have a batch file do it, then close photoshop. This will purge the 30 slots where the Open Recent names are stored. The old names will get flushed out to make way for the "new" ones.

An inelegant kludge of a solution? You bet. But then again all that is "Windows" is a kludge anyways.