No MRU List On XP Start Menu

[agmorgan]

For some reason, none of my recently used programs are appearing on my XP Start Menu.
I thought it might be a group policy, but when I checked the registry the obvious values are all set to 0
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
NoRecentDocsMenu
ClearRecentDocsOnExit
NoRecentDocsHistory

Are there any other settings that might prevent the recently used items from appearing?

[Siddharth Rout]

Go to these keys

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
HKEY_USERS\.default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

In right-side pane, look for a DWORD value "ClearRecentDocsOnExit

Simply Delete it...

That's it. Now restart or log off your system and your problem will be solved.

[chris128]

I'm confused, are you talking about the most recently used list of programs or the most recently used list of files ? Your post indicates programs but those registry values are all to do with the Recent Documents list as far as I know..

[Siddharth Rout]

Now I am confused

The Solution that I gave above is for "My Recent Documents"

If OP is talking about the Recently used Items in Start menu then it can be set directly by right clicking and setting the value as shown in the picture below...

[chris128]

Come on then, what is on your start menu that is so bad that you had to hide it with the spray paint tool in Paint?

Whatever it was it cant have been worse than VB6 and you left that on there

[Siddharth Rout]

Come on then, what is on your start menu that is so bad that you had to hide it with the spray paint tool in Paint?

er.. er... forget it...

Whatever it was it cant have been worse than VB6 and you left that on there

Well my laptop has dual boot (Win XP + VB6 + Office 2003) and (Vista + VB2008 + Office 2007). When I took that snapshot, I was in XP And to be honest again... I still love VB6

[chris128]

haha fair enough

[agmorgan]

Sorry for the confusion
I did mean Recently used Items in Start menu (i.e the programs)

Unfortunately, under properties, the number of programs in the start menu is already listed as 6.

Are there any other policies that affect this?

[Nightwalker83]

Try this (from WinXP Help):

How to Prevent a Program from Being Displayed in the Most Frequently Used Programs List
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
Add an empty string value named NoStartPage to the following registry key, where Program name.exe is the name of the executable file that is used to start the program:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\Program name.exe
Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

Edit:

However instead of "NoStartPage" you would need to put the value to enable the item to appear in the list.

[Siddharth Rout]

Sorry for the confusion
I did mean Recently used Items in Start menu (i.e the programs)

Unfortunately, under properties, the number of programs in the start menu is already listed as 6.

Are there any other policies that affect this?

Try this... (Please follow the steps in the order that I have mentioned below)

Change it to 7 from 6 and check. Do the shortcuts start appearing?

If it doesn't work...

Delete these three keys

NoRecentDocsMenu
ClearRecentDocsOnExit
NoRecentDocsHistory

and recreate them and set their value to 0.

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Value Name: NoRecentDocsMenu
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 0 or 1
0 = Yes, allow recent docs
1 = No, do not allow recent docs

Value Name: ClearRecentDocsOnExit
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 0 or 1
0 = No don't clear
1 = Yes clear them

Value Name: NoRecentDocsHistory
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 0 or 1
0 = Yes history
1 = No history

Edit

Important:

1) If it still doesn't work then change the values from 0 to 1. Exit Registry and reopen registry. Reset it to 0. Exit Registry and check if the documents appear by clicking few programs...
2) BTW if you see that the values automatically have changed back to 0 without you changing them then check for Trojans in your PC!!!