Clear Windows Media Player history?, Part 3

... Continued.

Reminder: What is Adware and Spyware?

Spyware is software which silently records a users' Internet activity, and then reports the data to a central computer (which is also connected to the Internet). After data is collected from millions of online users, statistical forecasts are made for the purpose of targeted online marketing (IE: which search engine queries are used, buying habits based on pages visited, etc).

On the other hand, Adware is software which sends advertisements (usually PopUps) to your computer -- even if you're not connected to the Internet. Quite often, Adware and Spyware are bundled with other software which is downloaded from the Internet (for example: Kazaa Media Desktop, a popular file sharing program contains known Adware). Unfortunately, users are unaware that the software has been installed on their systems.

And, thanks to a few Infopackets Readers, we now know that SpyBot and AdAware can not only remove this parasite code -- but will also remove MRU history!

Mark O. recommended a program called iI System Wiper. From the web site:

" iISystem Wiper allows you to clear the history of your activities from you computer ... [and] allows you to clear this information with a click of a button. "

http://www.iisoftware.net/index.php?clean.html

Die-hard Infopackets Reader Pippie1949 provided a solution which can disabled MRU altogether. She writes:

" To Keep Media Player from maintaining the Recent Files List: Click Start -> Run, and type in regedit.exe (press enter). Find the value HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ MediaPlayer \ Preferences, and look in the right pane for the value called: AddToMRU. Double click this item and set the value to 00 (two zeros). You can also download the registry file fix at Kelly's Korner: it's one of the absolute best sites for XP tips, tricks, troubleshooting, How-To's! "

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp.htm

And, last (but certainly not least), Neil B. suggested System Security Suite (3S):

" System Security Suite (3S) is the program to remove internet tracks and junk files from your computer. It allows you to delete Cookies, clear Internet Explorer Cache, delete index.dat Files, clear Typed URLs, Windows Temp Folder and much more. You can also specify custom folder locations with file masks, which will be cleaned in addition to the selected items. In addition, the program allows you to view and optionally remove programs that launch automatically at Windows startup. "

http://www.igorshpak.net/

Thanks for everyone's suggestions!