Cannot reduce size of recent items folder in Windows 7

Question

The folder ..\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent Items has grown to over 100GB and is causing major delays when I log in through the network.

I have tried clear the recent items folder in accordance with these instructions:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/183710-recent-items-list-clear.html

And the folder now appears to be empty. However, the properties still suggest the folder contains 100+ files, 2 folders and over 100GB.

Any suggestions please?