If you’re a Windows XP user, you know that the run dialog is a great way to get quick access to commonly used commands. Here are some recent commands that you can use in the run dialog:

  1. Get system information: This command will show you all of the system information that is currently stored on your computer. This includes things like your CPU type, memory usage, and more.
  2. Change user account: This command will change the user account on your computer. This can be useful if you want to change someone’s password or start a new instance of Windows XP with a different username and password.
  3. Exit: This command will close all of your open windows and exit your computer.

Of course there are many cleaner applications that will do this for you, but we’ll explain how to do it manually.

Clear Recent Run Dialog Entries Through Regedit

Open up regedit.exe through the start menu run box, and then navigate down to the following key:

You’ll see all your recent commands on the right, and you can delete any of the keys that contain your commands. You’ll have to logoff and then back on, but the list should be clean.

Note that this will also work for Windows Vista’s Run dialog, although most people have switched to using the search box instead.

Completely Clear Recent Run Dialog Entries The Easier Way

Reader Ayush pointed out a much more easy solution that this registry hack-happy geek overlooked.

Right-click on the taskbar and choose Properties, then choose Start Menu.

Select the “Classic Start menu” option, and choose the Customize button. (Don’t worry, we’ll cancel out of the dialogs so you can keep the XP menu style)

Now just click the Clear button to remove all of the recent documents and applications from the start menu.

Once you’ve done that, hit Cancel and then Cancel again to make sure you don’t switch to the Classic Start menu.

Note that this method will clear out everything… so if you just want to remove a single entry you need to use the registry hack method.