How do I clear the Run box history in Windows 8?

Since there's no longer a taskbar/start menu Control Panel, how do you clear the history of the Run box in Windows 8?

David Pfeffer

Posted 2012-10-27T13:38:58.170

Reputation: 543

there is still a Control panel btw... – MimiEAM – 2012-10-27T14:11:21.113

@MimiEAM I never said there isn't. I said there's no Taskbar/Start Menu Control Panel. – David Pfeffer – 2012-10-28T12:27:23.253

Answers

Following are the steps to clear history of the Run box:

Go to the Start screen, and type regedit and open click on regedit to open the Registry Editor
Navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU
On the right of the screen, there are keys that contain the recently entered commands on the Run Box. Delete the ones that you want to delete
Log off and Log back on.

That should delete history from the Run menu.

The UI Way to delete History

Type Clear History in the Search box. Then click on Settings on the Charms menu
Finally select Delete History to clear the history

However, that method deletes more than just the search history of Run Box. It also deletes history from other applications like File Explorer.

Rakib Ansary

Posted 2012-10-27T13:38:58.170

Reputation: 2 168

There's really no actual UI way to do this? – David Pfeffer – 2012-10-27T13:50:25.367

There is actually a UI way to delete history. Please see the edited answer. – Rakib Ansary – 2012-10-27T13:58:54.127

1It should be accepted, the edit make it worth :) – avirk – 2012-10-27T14:09:19.733

You can use CCleaner to erase the run history.

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HackToHell

Posted 2012-10-27T13:38:58.170

Reputation: 6 162

I hate "tools", but ccleaner is really good! – davidbaumann – 2014-02-11T16:26:33.853

Empty the registry key out:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TypedPaths]

This will kill the typed Run history.

Rune Mariboe

Posted 2012-10-27T13:38:58.170

Reputation: 19

This did it for me

rundll32 inetcpl.cpl ClearMyTracksByProcess 1

Steven Penny

Posted 2012-10-27T13:38:58.170

Reputation: 7 294

Just like in Windows 7 the easiest way to do this is using CCleaner.

Michael S.

Posted 2012-10-27T13:38:58.170

Reputation: 3 128

For some reason the run box history is cleared via clearing Internet Explorer history. In IE, press ctrl+shift+del, and clear your history.

James Risto

Posted 2012-10-27T13:38:58.170

Reputation: 149