Does VLC media player store the files or its history in a hidden location?

Question

Does VLC media player store the played files hidden somewhere? I share my computer with a fellow student and do not want him to see what I have been watching.

Is the history or files of what's played in VLC stored or logged anywhere on the computer?

I want to know if there is a hidden file somewhere that shows what I have been watching through the media player, and vice versa, show what my roommate may have been watching.

Answer 1

There is a "recently used" list that is saved by VLC. And there are two answers for your question.

The "easy" way you are probably expecting: You can disable the behavior by opening the Tools -> Settings dialog, selecting the "Interface" section (would usually be preselected) and deactivating the "Save recently played items" option.

The "hard" way you should consider for your own good: simply set up a different non-admin account for your roommate on this computer, set up a complex password and never, under any circumstances, give it away to anyone else. Better yet, use EFS to encrypt all data in your profile directory - just in case somebody manages to get an administrative account on this machine.

Answer 2

On Windows (7) the Recent Media list is stored in the %appdata%\vlc\vlc-qt-interface.ini file. Open it and look for a line that says [RecentsMRL]. You should see the list below it