Windows – Change from frequent to recent items in explorer jump list

jumplistwindows 7

I know it's possible, but I can't for the life of me figure out how I did it… In a fresh Windows 7 install, the explorer jump list shows frequent items. There is a way to change it to show recent items instead, but how?

Best Answer

Right-click the Start button, click Properties.
On the Start menu tab, remove the tick from Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar (the second checkbox) and click OK. Now the Frequent section will disappear from the jump list.
Go back to the same dialog and re-tick the checkbox.

Now the jump list will still be empty, but as you start using the Explorer, it will be populated with the recent items.

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Windows – Disable Recent Items in Jump Lists for Certain Programs

The Jump lists for each program are stored in "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations" but they are in a binary format with an obscure name. e.g. "8fbb9843e86d54f4.automaticDestinations-ms" (which I will refer to as .adms from now on)

It is possible to discover which .adms belongs to which program with a little trial and error.

Open a video.
Put the AutomaticDestinations folder into Detail view and Sort by Date Modified.

Only one or two .adms should be showing as modified in the past minute. One is probably Explorer's list of recent folders, the other should be your program.
Delete one of the .adms then try to open your program's jump list. (Programs in the Start menu will still show the jumplist arrow, you have to click to see if it opens or does nothing)

Once you have identified the correct .adms, undelete it and set the file properties to Read-only (this completely disables the jumplist)*

Alternatively, make a note of the filename and go in and delete it whenever you need to. Windows will recreate it with the same name.

* I tried changing other permissions, but it wants full write permissions or it won't work at all!?!

Windows – Force Windows 7 to pin a file with no extension to the Jump List for Notepad

OK I did a little playing.

If you give your user write access to the HOSTS file (dangerous if malware runs as you) you can then create a hardlink to the file (as admin) using a .txt extension that you can edit.

Open a cmd prompt as Administrator and use FSUtil to make a hardlink in a folder you have full access to (like your desktop):

fsutil hardlink create C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop\PinnableHosts.txt C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.

You can then open "PinnableHosts.txt" in Notepad and when you edit it, the changes will be reflected in your HOSTS file (and vise versa, since they're linked).

It will (should) then be in the 'recent list' for Notepad, and therefore available to be pinned.

HTH.

Best Answer

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Windows – Disable Recent Items in Jump Lists for Certain Programs

Windows – Force Windows 7 to pin a file with no extension to the Jump List for Notepad

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