Hiding/Disabling The Recently Opened Programs Bar?

[itslinx]

I tried searching for other posts about this, but I didn't find anything helpful. Maybe because I didn't really know what to search for. When you click the start button, the menu comes down and above the menu are icons of programs you've recently opened. Is there any way to get rid of that? It does nothing but take up room. If I want to open those programs again, I can find some of them on the start menu or the application launcher on my today screen.

Thanks in advance.