See the links below:
Disabling Unnecessary Programs
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-12546_102-0.html?forumID=133&threadID=238817&messageID=2465401#2465401
See the link below and follow the steps to preventing unneeded Services from running in the background. It should help substantially.:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm
If the "Recent Items" is a shorcut icon, have you tried simply deleting it.. It's possible you mistakenly "dragged" it there?
Hope this helps.
Grif
Hi ,
I have purchased a lenovo laptop some 3 months ago. It has Vista home basic, 1 GB RAM and Dual-core processor.
Today I noticed a Recent items icon in my games folder. I have only the games that come with OS. Is this because of some virus?
I right-clicked to see when it appeared but it doesnt have the option of propperties. paly, copy, pin to start menu,add to quick launch,customize... and remove from list. please help.
Also I have too many startup items and it takes some 4 minutes to get started. I tried to remove them from startup list using windows help but the disable/remove option was greyed. It was active only for first item. When I removed that second ones remove option became active, but I wanted to keep that so all the options of other items are greyed. Please tell me how I can remove items from startup.
Thank you.

Chowhound
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