Remove “recent” links from the Left Nav in SharePoint 2013

You can use the following script to master page to remove recent links from Quick launch in SharePoint 2013
jQuery(document).ready(function() {
 jQuery(".ms-core-listMenu-item:contains('Recent')").parent().hide();
});

SharePoint 2013 Sign as different user

SP2010 environment shows that the actual link for signing in as a different user is /_layouts/closeConnection.aspx?loginasanotheruser=true

SharePoint 2013 removed from the UI

But link still exists you can use.

They remove it because this option uses an unsupported browser feature which is unreliable and causes other issues. It is not supported by IE10, Safari

To Customize Refine Panel in UI Web Part

1. Add Metadata mapping for column you want to add to refine Panel:
   • Go to Fast Query Service and Select Manage from Control Panel.
   • From Left navigation, select Fast Search Administration.
   • Select Link Manage Properties to manage properties mapping between your metadata and crawled content.
   • You can add or manage property. To allow property to be used for refine panel make sure refiner property is checked.
2. To Add a metadata to Refine Panel:


• From Search Page Edit Refine Panel Web part.
• Form Filter category definition you add/remove columns.
• Make sure use default configuration is unchecked to allow you customize column
  
• Make sure use default configuration is unchecked to allow you customize column.