RE: Preventing shortcuts from forming

CCleaner for Windows
1

Hi folks,

Okay - it's a good thing that CCleaner can clean all those nuisance short cuts that get created every time you open a file, video, or jpg, but what I want to be able to do is prevent the shortcuts from forming in the first place. They serve no purpose except to take up space. If someone could tell me how to fix this I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

2

not quite sure on what your talking about.

where are the shortcuts located?

no shortcut gets created when you open a file, video, or pic as far as i know of.

3

If you're talking about Recent Documents there's two ways of dealing with them other than using CCleaner, these are WinXP instructions:

Already built into WinXP:

  1. Right click the start button and select Properties.
  2. Then click the tab Start Menu and select Customize.
  3. On the tab General you can set the number of programs on the Start Menu to 0, which will stop WinXP from placing a shortcut to recently used programs on the Start Menu. You can also press Clear List to have what's already listed removed.
  4. On the tab Advanced untick 'List my recently opened documents'. You can also press Clear List to have the current list removed.

How to auto-clean histories using Microsoft Tweak UI:

  1. In Tweak UI click Explorer, and then tick 'Clear document history on exit'. This will cause Explorer to clear the Recent Documents list, Start->Run history, and URL ("website") history when you shutdown, restart, or log off.
  2. Click Apply to enable the setting, and OK to exit Tweak UI.

4

If you're talking about Recent Documents there's two ways of dealing with them other than using CCleaner, these are WinXP instructions:

Already built into WinXP:

  1. Right click the start button and select Properties.
  2. Then click the tab Start Menu and select Customize.
  3. On the tab General you can set the number of programs on the Start Menu to 0, which will stop WinXP from placing a shortcut to recently used programs on the Start Menu. You can also press Clear List to have what's already listed removed.
  4. On the tab Advanced untick 'List my recently opened documents'. You can also press Clear List to have the current list removed.

How to auto-clean histories using Microsoft Tweak UI:

  1. In Tweak UI click Explorer, and then tick 'Clear document history on exit'. This will cause Explorer to clear the Recent Documents list, Start->Run history, and URL ("website") history when you shutdown, restart, or log off.
  2. Click Apply to enable the setting, and OK to exit Tweak UI.

They are good tips I didn't know about.

5

its different if your running the classic theme.

6

If you're talking about Recent Documents there's two ways of dealing with them other than using CCleaner, these are WinXP instructions:

Already built into WinXP:

  1. Right click the start button and select Properties.

  2. Then click the tab Start Menu and select Customize.

  3. On the tab General you can set the number of programs on the Start Menu to 0, which will stop WinXP from placing a shortcut to recently used programs on the Start Menu. You can also press Clear List to have what's already listed removed.

  4. On the tab Advanced untick 'List my recently opened documents'. You can also press Clear List to have the current list removed.

How to auto-clean histories using Microsoft Tweak UI:

  1. In Tweak UI click Explorer, and then tick 'Clear document history on exit'. This will cause Explorer to clear the Recent Documents list, Start->Run history, and URL ("website") history when you shutdown, restart, or log off.

  2. Click Apply to enable the setting, and OK to exit Tweak UI.

Hi Andavari,

Thanks, but I haven't graduated to XP yet. Can you tell me how to do the same thing in 98 SE? - not the Tweak UI - that doesn't seem to do anything that CCleaner doesn't do. How do I set Start menu to 0 in 98 SE, or can I set something up in CCleaner? Thanks for your help.

7

TweakUI does a great number of things that CCleaner does not.

Here's TweakUI for Windows 98: http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/dow...g/NTTweakUI.asp

It also has the option to delete the contents of the Recent folder on reboot.

In addition, on the IE or IE4 tab, you can UNcheck "Add new documents to Documents on Start Menu".

What that in effect does is introduce a "NoRecentDocsHistory" restriction, but whether it actually stops shortcuts from accumulating in the Recent folder as well I dunno; you'd have to test that...

8

... I even found you a TweakUI 9x/2000 tutorial :)

http://www.cnw.com/~josh/tweakui/tweakui.html

NOTE: this is for a previous version of the application, but virtually all of it is still valid. One thing: I believe the "IE4" tab is called just "IE" in v1.33

9

On Win98 I believe Tweak UI v1.33 (the last version for Win9x/Me) is the safe way of doing it because it can disable or re-enable. It's much safer than editing the registry.

10

Sure, that's why, like yourself, I recommended TweakUI. It will implement that restriction FOR you, wirthout the need to manually edit the Registry.

11

Sure, that's why, like yourself, I recommended TweakUI. It will implement that restriction FOR you, wirthout the need to manually edit the Registry.

Thank you so much Tony, for the Tweak UI recommendation - and you too, Andavari - unchecking "Add new documents to Documents in Start Menu" absolutely did the trick. You guys are great - thanks again.

12

You're very welcome - glad we were able to help. :)