If there is a way to disable the recent values appearing at the top of the pick list in a combo box I haven't found it. This is incredibly frustrating for the users and for the designer.
I have two combo boxes in a form: Hydrant make (alphabetical) and Cast Year (descending order). The current functionality of having the recent values appear above all of the other choices while also removing those values from the pick list increases the visual processing and cognitive loads on the user - they have two lists to navigate instead of one. Not at all helpful in any way ESRI. This should be an opt-in feature at the very least.