How To Add & Remove Entries from The Windows Right-Click Menu
The Right-Click menu is one of the most messed with pieces of Windows. If you have installed a large amount of applications, your right-click menu can become quite large and eventually just take way too long to load.
Of course, it is possible to remove and add options to the right-click menu. Both of which can be quite productive and fun. (There was a previous article Customize Your ‘Send To’ Right-Click Windows Menu written by Jimmy on how to add more options to the “Send To” field. Some other article related to Windows right lick menu can be found here.)
Ready? Let’s do it!
Adding Entries for Certain File Types in Right-Click Menu
Sometimes you may have a certain file type, e.g. .doc (Word document) that you would like to do something special with, e.g. open .doc as an email attachment. Today we will be looking at how to do just that. In other words, show you how to add additional options to right click menu when used on certain files. So let’s get started!
Step 1: Go to “My Computer.” Click “Tools” and then click “Folder Options.”
Step 2: Click on the tab labeled “File Types.”
Step 3: Find a file type and select it. Then click “Advanced.”
Step 4: Click “New.” In the Action field type the name that you would like to appear.
Step 5: In the Application used to perform action textbox enter the path of the application you would like the file to load in (with quotes). E.g. “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”.
Step 6: Click “OK” and you have your own customized right-click menu!
Removing Entries from Right-Click Menu
Sometimes, instead of adding entries, maybe your right-click menu has become too big. Eventually right-click menu’s (like mine) can take forever to load. If you would like to, you can definitely remove some of those useless options. Ready for a faster right-click menu? Let’s do it!
Step 1: Go to “Start,” “Run,” and type regedit.
Step 2: Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellexe\ContextMenuHandlers
Step 3: Find the folder that indicates the entry in the start menu and right-click. Select “Remove.”
Remove Entries for Certain File Types
Maybe your right-click menu has become way too long, and takes forever to load (like mine). If you would like to only remove entries for certain file types, simply go to the Folder Options menu like we did before and you may do the following:
Step 1: Go to “My Computer.” Click “Tools” and then click “Folder Options.”
Step 2: Click on the tab labeled “File Types.”
Step 3: Find a file type and select it.
Step 4: Find one of the entries and select “Remove.”
Now go out there and tweak!
More tweaks next time in WinHacks!
(By) Will Mueller is a computer nerd and geek that enjoys programming in various languages on the web. He is currently working on one of his sites at PiccDrop.
I use mmm to modify the right-click menu as needed. Mmm lets you get rid of the items you never use. Lets you move those items you rarely use out on a submenu. Keeping only the functions you often use in a tidy and small base menu.
http://hace-software.com/mmm.shtml
Additional locations include HKCR\Directory HKCR\Folder HKCR\NamespaceGUID. More details at this article
Manage the context-menu entries for files, folders, drives and Namespace objects:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/context_folders.htm
Very cool, I definitely may need this down the road, especially on a lot of the servers I work on.
I never knew this.. It is really useful
I use Mmm too. It’s great, but it doesn’t work when I use my right click on webpages. I get about 15 items on my right click, only two or three of which I use. I followed the directions exactly in this article, and “arrived” at the right place, but none of those subitems were apparent when I went through the list. How do I get rid of things like “Validate” and “Source” and such which this non-geek doesn’t ever use?
Very useful - wish I’d known about it before.
BUT I can’t find how to add microsoft Frontpage - Properties doesn’t help - just says Microsoft Office - no program.
Are you attempting to add an option to a certain file type, or what? I was able to find Frontpage using browse in the Properties window.
Very informative piece! I didn’t have a clue that you could do that! Thank you!
Nice one. Requires administrator privileges, doesn’t it?
If the account is restriced from the Registry Editor, then yes.
Another way to control what comes up in the right click is to download the XP Power Tool called Tweak UI. Once you have, under My Computer/Templates you can turn off what comes up and what doesn’t
does this also apply to vista?
I don’t have the file types option.
Neither this nor Tweak UI seem to work correctly for me. The option I want is actually already listed in the advanced window but does not show up when I right click a file of that type.
TweakUI has a My Computer but the templates is not part of it. And the Templates seperate option doesn’t have anything about the right-click menu, just the right-click in a folder “New” sub-options.