How to clear the history of commands that were run in the Run window

In this article, you will learn how to delete the history of commands that were run in the Run window in Windows 7/8/10.

Steps

Method 1 of 2: Windows 10

Step 1. Open the Start menu

Click Start (Windows logo) in the lower-left corner of your screen, or press the ⊞ Win key.

Step 2. Enter regedit in the search bar

This will start searching for Registry Editor.

Step 3. Click "regedit"

It is an icon in the form of several blue cubes.

Step 4. Click Yes when prompted

The Registry Editor will open.

Step 5. Go to the "RunMRU" folder

The registry folders are sorted alphabetically. To go to the "RunMRU" folder:

• Open the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" folder; to do this, click

• 

  to the left of this folder. This and each subsequent folder is located in the left pane.

• Open the "Software" folder.
• Open the Microsoft folder.
• Scroll down and open the Windows folder.
• Open the "CurrentVersion" folder.
• Open the Explorer folder.

Step 6. Click on the "RunMRU" folder

Its contents will be displayed in the right pane of the Registry Editor window.

Step 7. Select all items in the "RunMRU" folder except "Default"

Hold down the left mouse button and move the pointer over all the elements on the right pane; do not select the "Default" item.

In the "Values" column, you will find the commands that were run in the "Run" window

Step 8. Right-click on the selected items and then click Delete

The Delete button will appear at the bottom of the menu; a pop-up window will appear.

If you have a laptop with a trackpad, tap it with two fingers (instead of right-clicking)

Step 9. Click Yes

The command history will be cleared.

Most likely, a window will open with the message "Unable to delete all registry entries" (or similar); regardless of this message, the command history will be cleared the next time it is checked

Method 2 of 2: Windows 7/8

Step 1. Right-click on the taskbar

It's at the bottom of the screen; if it is not displayed, move the cursor to the bottom of the screen.

If you have a laptop with a trackpad, tap it with two fingers (instead of right-clicking)

Step 2. Click Properties

It's at the bottom of the menu.

Step 3. Click the Start Menu

This tab is at the top of the Properties window.

In Windows 8, click the Jump Lists tab

Step 4. Uncheck the box next to "Store and display the list of recently opened programs"

To do this, just click on the checkbox (tick).

Step 5. Click Apply

It's near the bottom of the window.

Step 6. Check the box next to "Store and display the list of recently opened programs"

The list of open programs will be empty.

Advice

In Windows 7/8, you can use the registry editing method described in the first section, that is, manually open all the necessary folders, starting with “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” and ending with “RunMRU”