How to Remove XP Search History

One of Windows XP's features is storing the history of your searches for files or folders on the computer in the system registry. This comes in handy when you remember just a few letters of a file's name, but have searched for it before. When you start typing the first letters, the whole word is supplied automatically from the system registry for easier searching. However, anyone can see what you have been searching for if you work on a public computer. Fortunately, you can clean up the values for a couple of Windows registry keys to clear your search history.

Instructions

1. Go to the "Start" menu and select "Run."

2. Type "regedit" and hit "Enter" to start the Registry Editor.

3. Navigate to the following registry entry:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603

   Click "5603" and then delete all of the values in the right pane of the window.

4. Navigate to the following registry entry:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Explorer Bars\{C4EE31F3-4768-11D2-BE5C-00A0C9A83DA1}\FilesNamedMRU

   Click "FilesNamedMRU" and then delete all of the values in the right pane of the window.

5. Close the Registry Editor.

Tips & Warnings

• Remove only the listed registry values to avoid damage to the operating system.

References

• WinXP Tutor: Clear the "Search for files and folders" history in Windows XP