How in the Tech

Keeping your privacy in Windows 7 jump lists

By Adam Myers ⋅ March 25, 2010 ⋅ Tags: Privacy, Windows 7

One of Windows 7′s many enhancements over it’s predecessor is a feature called jump lists that harmonize quite well with the re-envisioned task bar. Jump lists are initiated by right-clicking on an application’s icon that is either currently running, or pinned to the task bar. The resulting dialog will typically include shortcuts to common tasks relative to the application in question. For example, the iTunes jump list allows me to quickly access and search the iTunes store. Every application behaves differently but at the end, they are all logical extensions.

Jump lists also often contain recently accessed files by the application in question – not unlike the Recent Items area of the Start Menu. Microsoft Word will display the few most recently opened or edited documents in it’s jump list. For some, this can be quite conveinent and handy; for others, it can be a privacy nightmare. Unfortunately, there is no Windows preference that can disable this add-on feature if you desired to. While it’s possible to remove a single item from the list by right-clicking and deleting it, it’s clearly not ideal if this procedure is expected to be repeated often.

Typically, one would conclude that Microsoft stores this type of information in the Windows Registry but that proves not to be the case this time; at least as best as I can find. Instead the contents are controlled by a hidden directory located at:

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

Accessing this location through Windows Explorer lists a number of binary files; basically one file for each application’s jump list. The file contents may be decipherable if opened in a text editor but it is not at all obvious as to what belongs to where. If you are privacy conscious, this matters little to you, you can simply delete all the files in the directory. Unfortunately, the files are recreated upon the application’s next execution so in order to fully maintain your privacy, the deletion process should be automated or at the very least, a desktop shortcut created that executes:

del %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations\*