Cannot delete pictures

[glenafton]

I am using a HP desktop using dual core. The windows is Vista Home Premium. I download many pictures of places onto my computer and use ACDSee 9 for editing and storing them. At the moment I have some 4,000 pictures. My problem is that when I download a picture it is also sent to a folder called "Recently Changed" If I delete anything from this folder I delete it from my computer.
I have tried right clicking the start button - properties - start menu and unclicked the Store and display recently opened files box. This has made no difference as I still add anything I download to the Recently Changed file.
What do I do to either restrict the the amount stored in the Recently Changed file or better yet how can I delete items from it without deleting from my computer.
glenafton

[AnnMarie]

Hi glenafton. Recent Changed is a file not a folder. It's a search result and your downloaded files are not copied to two folders as you fear. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I am going to post an explanation of this feature written by Brandon Paddock MSFT in this (http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/showpost.aspx?postid=1424798&siteid=1&sb=0&d=1&at=7&ft=11&tf=0&pageid=0) topic.

* Recently Changed is a saved search. Sometimes they're called "Search Folders" or "Smart Folders" or some other name. However, it is just a file that triggers a specific search query. It does not contain items, and is not a folder. You can't put things into it, and deleting it will not delete the results of the search query.
* This means that when you click on Recently Changed, you see a list of all items that were recently changed, just as if you had used the Search function and searched for items with a "Date Modified" date within the last week or month.
* The items you see in Recently Changed are search results. They are not copies of the actual items, they are the original items. If you look at Recently Changed items, select one, and press Delete - you will be deleting that original item. This is how Search always works. Searching does not create copies.
* The Recently Changed saved search can be deleted safely. Deleting a saved search does not affect the results of that search. It is not a folder. It does not contain copies of your items (or any items at all). It's just a saved search query.
* The "Searches" folder contains some additional Saved Searches to get you started using Vista's new search functionality. For example, the "Recent E-mail" search will show you e-mail messages received recently. Again, this are searches and are not actual folders. They do not contain any data.
* Both the Recently Changed and the Searches items can be safely removed from the Favorites pane, if you do not find them useful. If you right-click them and click "Remove Link" you won't even be deleting the saved search, you'll just be removing the link from the Favorite Links list.
* If you choose Delete, you can also safely delete the Recently Changed saved search. It's just a file. Deleting it won't affect your items or the indexer.
* I would advise against deleting the Searches folder. As I said above, you can use the "Remove Link" option to remove it from the Favorite Links list. But an item in the folder is used when you click Start -> Search, and deleting it isn't going to gain you anything (saved searches take up virtually zero space).