Jump Lists feature is one the new features incorporated in Windows 7. Users who have been running Windows 7 probably know how useful the Jump Lists feature is. The feature enables you quickly access recently opened files with a particular program by right-clicking on the program icon on the taskbar. There is even a keyboard shortcut to quickly access jump list.
If you are new to Windows 7, Jump Lists are lists of recent items, such as files, folders, or websites, organized by the program that you use to open them. In addition to being able to open recent items using a Jump List, you can also pin favorites to a Jump List, so you can quickly get to the items that you use every day.
Since this feature was not available in earlier version of Windows, you need to get used to it. However, if you don’t like the new Windows 7 feature, you can disable it by following the below steps:
Turn on or off Jump Lists in Windows 7
1. Right-click on the taskbar and select “Properties”.
2. In the “Taskbar and Start Menu properties” dialog box, switch to Start Menu tab.
3. Deselect the option named “Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar” to disable Jump Lists feature.
4. Click on the “Apply” button to save the changes.
5. Recheck the box to enable the same feature.
If you own a Windows 10 PC, refer to our how to enable or disable Jump Lists in Windows 10 guide.
Noneofyourbusiness says
Whoever thought this feature was a good idea should be shot.
Matt G says
To disable Jump Lists COMPLETELY (not just clear them)
(1) Go to one of the following places:
Either the address bar of any Windows Explorer window,
Or the “Start > Run” box,
Or the Start menu’s “search box”
(2) Paste in the below path (the text between the quotes) and hit Enter. It’s a hidden folder so you can’t navigate to it by clicking.
“%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations”
(3) You will see a bunch of files. Each one corresponds to a program. This website can tell you which program corresponds to each file. forensicartifacts.com/2011/09/jump-list-appids/ Whichever Jump List you want to kill, do the following step to that corresponding file. I personally hate ALL Jump Lists and kill them ALL.
(4) Open each file with a plain text editor like Notepad or Notepad++. Delete all contents so each file is 0 bytes. Close the file(s). Now right-click the file(s). Click Properties. Turn on the “Read Only” checkbox. Click Apply and Ok.
(5) Restart your computer.
George says
This is no good for me, I just had to re-enable “Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar” so that the Run… dialog would remember programs. That feature has been around since at least Win2k and has nothing to do with jump lists; I would like to keep it active while disabling jump lists.
Flarpy says
I don’t find jump lists useful, I would like to disable them.