Question

Does Windows store a list of recently-visited directories somewhere in the registry, or in Docs & Settings?

Answer 1

Windows Explorer does keep such a list in the registry, if not turned off.

The article How to Remove Unwanted Items from Addressbar History in Windows Explorer? shows how to access this list stored in

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TypedPaths

Windows keeps lots of lists about your activities. If you're concerned about it, here's a commercial product that cleans up everything : Clear All History. Its following screenshot might serve as a demonstration of which history is kept about your actions:

Answer 2

Under Windows XP:

1. The %USERPROFILE%\Recent\ folder, where %USERPROFILE% is something like "C:\Documents and Settings\yourname". This folder contains shortcuts of recently visited files.

2. This registry entry contains the ordered file list:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\OpenSaveMRU

Not sure about Windows Vista and Windows 7, but they should be the same.