Comment 7 for bug 703517

> Inkscape has a trail of my recent files when opening before

Inkscape 0.48 checks for the existence of all files listed in a separate file for 'File > Open Recent…' whether they exist or not and only lists files it can find. Look for a file called '.recently-used.xbel' stored most likely in 'c:\users\<username>' - if you can find one, quit Inkscape, rename it and launch Inkscape again.

possibly related:
Bug #210274 “In Windows the ".recently-used.xbel" file is stored in a wrong location.”:
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/210274>
or
<https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/125810>