# Quick Computer Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-computer-question/129178>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 22, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-computer-question/129178 "2002-09-22T22:00:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![qwerty02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/cdc98d/32.png) [@qwerty02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qwerty02)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-computer-question/129178/1 "2002-09-22T22:00:08Z")

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How do I delete the drop-down history in Windows Search (you know, Start, Search, For Files Or Folders)? In Internet Explorer all you have to do is hit the down arrow, then highlight and hit delete. That doesn’t work in the search window. Is there way to do it in the registry? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-computer-question/129178/2 "2002-09-22T22:39:31Z")

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Just search for something, then run **regedit** and do a Find for that text. On my Windows 2000 system the entries are stored in **HKEY\_CURRENT\_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Explorer Bars\*\*[a long string of random characters]**\FilesNamedMRU\*\*. Deleting all the values and rebooting should clear the dropdown box.

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-computer-question/129178/3 "2002-09-22T22:41:02Z")

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Do a search of the SDMB General Questions forum. IIRC this has been addressed several times before and there is a registry hack and/or a free utility you can DL from MS called “Powertools” for 95/98/ME that will also do this.

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-computer-question/129178/4 "2002-09-23T02:00:44Z")

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What windows version? I use a full computer maintenance program & it cleans this as part of its job 🙂

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**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-computer-question/129178/5 "2002-09-24T00:56:01Z")

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This works for Win98:

- right-click on an empty area on the task bar
- choose “Properties”
- choose “Start Menu Programs” tab
- click “Clear” button in the documents menu section.

This will clear recent documents and other lists such as the search files list.