In 10.10 the "recent documents" pulldown does not display actual recent items--it shows the same items time after time. How can I fix that?

Question

In previous versions of OS 10, the "recent items" pull down from the Apple icon (top left) actually showed recent items.  In this version, 10.10, the same items display time after time rather than displaying recent items.  How can this be fixed?

Answer 1

Back up all data before proceeding.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd
Right-click or control-click the line and select
          Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)
from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Move the selected item to the Trash. Log out or restart the computer and test.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination  command-C. In the Finder, select
          Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.