On a Windows Vista or Windows 7 machine you can empty the recently opened documents list by doing the following.
- Click on Start button
- Right click on “Recent items“
- Select ‘Clear Recent Items List‘
If you don’t see “Recent items” in start menu then it mean that tracking of recently opened files is not enabled.
You may also like to read the following articles related to Recent Items:
How to disable Recent Items/Documents list in Vista or Windows 7
Recent Items link missing in Windows 7