Couple of months ago, we’ve discussed a way to automatically erase the search suggestions in Windows 8 Explorer. From that article, I realized that such an arrangement will also be beneficial for the other places like where recently opened programs are mentioned. For an example, consider the Run dialog box shown below.
By default, Windows tracks and stores the frequently used programs through Run dialog box. As a result of which, when I type just a single letter S, couple of suggestions are there. In this article, I’ll show you, how you can disable this automatic suggestions or in other words, how you can turn off the tracking of recently opened programs in Windows 8.
So without wasting any more time, lets share the trick…
How To : Disable Tracking Of Recently Opened Programs
1. Press 
+ R and put regedit in Run dialog box to open Registry Editor (if you’re not familiar with Registry Editor, then click here). Click OK.
2. Navigate here :
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
3. In the right pane of this location, create a new DWORD value, using right click -> New -> DWORD Value. Right click on this so create DWORD, pick Rename and rename it to Start_TrackProgs. Now double click on this DWORD in order to modify it’s Value data, you’ll got this:
4. In the above shown dialog, put 0 in the Value data section to disable tracking else put 1 to let the tracking enabled. Close the Registry Editor and reboot to get results.
That’s it!
This is good article Kapil.
Before reading this I was unaware of it. Thanks for the trick :)
You can also do the same from Task bar properties. From jump lists tab, uncheck store recently opened programs. Although registry seems perfect.