How do I clear the Recent Favorites from the Favorites drop down? I've tried disabling recent favorites (and clicking "apply"), changing the default from 10 to 5, but the 10 most recent folders accessed remain. Thank you.
Do you mean SmartFavorites? There is a link to clear them under Preferences / Favorites and Recent / SmartFavorites.
Thank you leo - not the most intuitive or easy to find link, but I did miss it. Appreciate the prompt response 
Any suggestions on making it more intuitive?
Sure, as long as you're asking. I'd move it above "Check on startup for folders that no longer exist". I'd either make it a renewable checkbox (the checkmark disappears as soon as the user clicks "Apply") or a radio button. Thanks for asking 
So you stopped reading at the red line in the screenshot below?
Or you didn't realise the text/link was clickable & didn't really look down there for things to click on as a result?
I'm not a huge fan of it being a link myself. OTOH, it's not really a Preferences setting that gets applied & stored, so a checkbox would be unusual in the context of all the other settings in Preferences. A radio button definitely doesn't make sense as radio buttons are for choosing between mutually exclusive options. It's really a button (like the OK and Cancel buttons), since it has an immediate effect on things outside of Preferences, but is not tied to any state that is shown in the Preferences window. Personally, I would have made it a button if I designed that part of the dialog, but I guess the aim was to avoid having a really large/wide button on aesthetic grounds, so a link was used instead. (There's a similar one for adjusting the thumbnail cache settings.)
You asked, I told you what I thought would be more intuitive. And the fact is, I simply didn't see the link. I'm a pretty bright guy, but I missed it. If I missed it, I'm guessing others do also.
Additionally, it would be very helpful if individual folders could be removed from the list as opposed to having to clear the entire list.
To me, it doesn't even seem intuitive to have something that performs an immediate action in Preferences at all, but that's just a side comment. I don't even use Smart Favorites and have no idea where it would make more sense to have that function,
I'd like to suggest the ability to either selectively clear individual smart favorites from the list (right-click, delete from list) or to somehow specify which folders should never be added to the list. Thank you.
We'll keep it in mind.
We're more likely to implement suggestions if you link your account.
Done. thank you.