On  the Arch Forums[1] I finally found a nice way to "disable" the use
  of "recently-used.xbel". See[2].  In the past, I simply  deleted  that
  file on a regular basis.

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  1. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=137697

  2. http://ubuntu-snippets.blogspot.com/2009/02/recently-usedxbel-xml-horror.html