Recently had hard disk crash. Had it replaced. Everything is great, but I use the "Recent Places" folder in windows explorer all the time and it's no longer working. Any ideas on how to fix it? I've deleted and added it back but that didn't fix it either.

Method 1:
Try to Turn On the "Recent Items" option from the Taskbar Properties.
To do so, follow the steps given below:
1. On the desktop, Right click on the taskbar.
2. Click on Properties. Taskbar and Navigation properties Window will be open.
3. Click on Jump Lists Tab.
4. There will be two check box.
a. Check the check box against “Store recently opened programs”.
b. Check the check box against “Store and display recently opened items in Jump Lists”.
5. Click on OK.
6. Reopen the Windows Explorer and check if it helps.

Method 2:
Try to change the DWORD value through registry.
1. Press Windows key + R. It will open Run Window.
2. Type regedit.exe in the search box and click on OK.
3. Registry Editor Window Will be open.
4. Navigate to the below location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
5. Double click on Start_TrackDocs DWORD.
6. Change the DWORD to value to 1.
0 = Turn off
1 = Turn on
6. Click on OK. Close the Registry Editor Window.
7. Restart the computer and check if it helps.

Important this section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: How to back up and restore the registry in Windows