Quite a number of users have wished to disable recent programs from being displayed in the Start Menu. Is it possible?

Firstly, it is possible to clear the recent program list. The list of recent programs is found in the registry.

Registry Key: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Shell\Taskswitch\
Comments: Each registry value corresponds to one program.

In order to clear the recent program list, you should delete or clear the data of all the registry values foudn in the registry key mentioned above. To make things simpler, it is possible to use ClearTemp to clear the recent program list.

Here are the steps for using ClearTemp to clear the recent program list:
1) Run ClearTemp
2) Tick "Recent Programs".
3) Click on the "Clean" button.
4) Exit ClearTemp.
5) Do not run any other apps or launch the Start Menu.
6) Perform a soft reset.

However, clearing the recent program list is more troublesome in Windows Mobile 5.0 due to persistent storage and the way the registry works. So, here's the modified steps for WM5 users:
1) Run ClearTemp
2) Tick "Recent Programs".
3) Click on the "Clean" button.
4) Exit ClearTemp.
5) Do not run any other apps or launch the Start Menu.
6) Power off the device.
7) Wait for a couple of seconds before you power on the device again.
8) Perform a soft reset.

But...is it possible to disable recent programs from showing up? I'm not too sure now. I just found an untested registry tweak and I hope some of the WM5 users over here can help to test it it works.

UPDATE: The registry tweak below has been tested and it does not work.

Registry Key: HKCU\software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Registry Value: NoFavoritesMenu
Data: 1
Data Type: DWORD

After setting this registry, please try clearing the recent program list and soft reset. Then try to run a few programs. Does the recent program list still show up now? I'm curious to find out.

I'm testing on 818P and cross check if my setting is correct.
1) Clear all the recent program.
2) HKCU\software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
create new -Key then New DWORD Value then Data 1.
3) Soft Reset
4) Open some program then Click on Start. Recent Program still appears.

If my step is correct then the register key not working for 818P.

1) Go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
2) Create a new DWORD value. Name it as "NoFavoritesMenu"
3) Put "1" as the data value. Doesn't matter if it's hexadecimal or decimal.
4) Clear recent program list
5) Turn off the device
6) Turn it on again after a few seconds
7) Perform a soft reset

It would be great if this registry works. It's an untested tweak and it's the first time I read about it.

Sorry man, it's doesn't work. I wish it could, any others way i could test for you?

Since it doesn't work, there goes the last hopes of disabling the recent program list. Actually, I think the person who suggested this tweak probably adapted from the registry tweak for PCs. The next best is to clear the recent program list. But the best solution would be to forget about it.

Maybe it's work for Atom or HP 6818/6828. Anyone care to try and revert.

nope this trick does not works for my HP iPAQ 6828 either :(

Well I tried onmy Atom. It doesnt work.... any other way too try? I really want to disable it...!!!

Unfortunately, it can't be disabled. You can only clear/reset it.

I just discovered a new way to clear the recent program list in the Start Menu without having to soft reset. I'm not sure if it works for WM5. It's a little troublesome, but I need someone to test it on a WM5 device to see if the method works. If it works in WM5 as well, I'll try to implement it into ClearTemp so that it is easier and faster to clear the recent program list.

1) Find any shortcut in "\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\" or its subfolders.
2) Create 9 duplicates of the shortcut file and place in "\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\" or its subfolders.
3) Launch and exit the program using the 9 shortcuts one by one.
4) Tap on the start button to see all the clones in the start menu (this action will load these clones into the recent program list).
5) Now, delete all the 9 clones.
6) Launch the Start Menu again. It should be pretty clean now since the system cannot find those missing shortcuts.