How can I configure the right-click menu in Windows 7?

How can I remove/add custom items/shortcuts to the context menu (right-click menu) by modifying the Windows registry? I am not looking for a graphical tool like those listed in Edit right-click context menus in Windows 7, I want to do it myself by changing the registry keys manually.

So:

• How can I do this?
• Where I can find the values that Registry use to make this menu?
• How can I restore the default values if something went wrong?

Solution 1:

The registry entries you should specifically look at are:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell (for specific file types)
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers (also for specific file types)
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFileSystemObjects\ShellEx (for all context menus)
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell (for folders)
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers (also for folders)

Remember to always backup your registry before editing it by going to File > Export... in the regedit.exe application.

Or if you prefer to do it using an application (which apparently you don't but I'll put it in here anyway):

You can use ShellExView and ShellMenuView to see a list of all current (and past, as long as the entries have not been removed) context menu items and disable or enable them from there.

Source: How-To Geek

Solution 2:

If you like to play with REGEDIT ;

Run regedit and navigate to

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Here you need to simply delete the keys you don't want.For more see this.

But I would prefer small but functional softwares to do this ;

Alternatively you can use an application to edit the items in the context menu.

ContextEdit is a good freeware you may want to use. You can also try ShellMenuView. It is a small utility that displays the list of static menu items that appeared in the context menu when you right-click a file/folder on Windows Explorer, and allows you to easily disable unwanted menu items.

FileMenu Tools lets you add, delete & customize the context menu items of the Windows Explorer.

It lets configure the following aspects:

• Add some build-in utilities in order to do operations over files and folders.
• Add customized commands which let run external applications, copy/move to a specific folder or delete specific file types.
• Configure the "Sends to..." submenu.
• Enable/disable the commands which are added by other applications to the context menu and much more !

Solution 3:

You should try Right Click Enhancer instead of messing with registry all by yourself. It can add, remove or edit shortcuts. It also have an option to add shortcuts in sub menu.