Where is the context menu in windows 7. How to change the right-click menu
Every Windows OS user knows that, regardless of the program, with the right mouse button you can call up an additional, so-called context menu, which contains a set of special commands and links. Let's try to figure out why it is needed and how to work with it correctly.
What is the Windows context menu
Speaking about the context menu of “operating systems” of the Windows family, I would immediately like to note the fact that it is not some kind of exclusive development of Microsoft Corporation. Mac OS X or Linux also has such an element.
In general, if you understand what a context menu is, it can be characterized as an additional set of commands for quick access to some functions, say, without calling a specific application or control.
For example, everyone knows that the context menu always contains the “Open with...” command, after which a list of the most suitable applications for working with the file is displayed. You understand how much more convenient it is to open a file here than to call up the program, and then go to the “File” menu and use the “Open” line or the Ctrl + O key combination.
In addition, in addition to commands, there is also a set of special tools with which you can learn many things. But more on that later.
Type and organization of the context menu
Let's now look at how the Windows 7 context menu is organized. Probably everyone has noticed that the menu itself has special separators in the form of thin horizontal lines. The meaning of their use is to distinguish between similar actions or commands belonging to the same program.
Here it is worth paying attention to the fact that the context menu in a so-called “clean” system, immediately after installation, may be very different from what the user will see after installing additional programs and utilities. This is due to the fact that many installation packages integrate quick access commands to some of their main functions directly into this menu during the installation process.
Most of all, this applies to anti-virus software, media players, programs for working with disk images, archivers, etc. In principle, the user can add his own items to ensure ease of use.
Additional menu on the Desktop and in program windows
Surely, every user has noticed that the context menu in different programs or on the same desktop differs in the list of items and commands. It `s naturally. For example, if you call up the menu on the desktop, it becomes clear that the “Open” line used for folders and files is not needed there. It’s another matter when the mouse button is clicked on a shortcut or saved file located exactly on the desktop.
As is already clear, in different programs the context menu may also contain different items. In this case, everything depends on the specifics of the application. Compare at least the usual Explorer and the Word text editor. But for now we will talk about the “native” Windows OS commands.
Main context menu items
Drop-down menus are present almost everywhere, even in the main Start menu. In any of them you can see some points marked with arrows. This is done to show that the clause itself contains additional subclauses.
As usual, for files and folders, at the very top there is always an “Open” command, highlighted in bold. When you click on this line in relation to files, they will be opened in some program. You need to know that selection occurs only if the application itself sets the file association with this particular program. Otherwise, using this command will only result in the system prompting you to review and select the most suitable application. If several programs are associated with a file, you can use the line “Open with...”, which will contain a list of programs that work with the extension of the file you are looking for.
It goes without saying that the context menu of the same Explorer contains commands such as “Copy”, “Delete”, “Cut”, “Paste”, “Send”, “Rename”, “Create a shortcut”, etc. Even a child knows this. On the other hand, there is also a “Properties” line, the use of which provides the user with complete information about the object being used.
So, for example, when calling such a command by clicking on the computer icon on the desktop, you can get general information about the main parameters of the computer system and the installed operating system. For the desktop, the context menu mainly provides only the use of settings and options for synchronizing folders with shared attributes.
Some menus also provide tools for administering or inspecting selected items.
Using additional context menu commands
Now let's talk about some additional commands. If you give an example of an installed antivirus, you will notice that the context menu will always contain lines like “Scan” or “Scan with...”. Agree, it’s very convenient.
The same applies to archivers, because you can add a file (folder) to an archive or extract it from there with one click.
Many media players behave this way, integrating their own commands into the system's context menu. Most often, items for adding to a playlist or playing (video and audio) appear here for multimedia files, and for graphics this is the viewing command. In general, it all depends on which program integrates its own command lines into the menu, and what objects are associated with it.
Adding and removing commands in the system registry
So we got to the solution to the problem - how to add your own items to the context menu. There are several ways to do this. In this case, we can offer at least three options. Two of them relate to editing the system registry, and one concerns the use of specialized utilities.
You can use adding keys in the system registry, but if you don’t know which keys and their values are responsible for a particular process, you can waste a lot of time, achieve nothing in the end, and bring the system to a state of complete inoperability.
Therefore, let's consider the simplest way to work with the registry. First, in the Run menu, use the regedit editor access command. Here you need to go to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT section, find AllFilesystemObjects, then shellex and finally ContextMenuHandlers.
In the last section, select an additional menu by right-clicking and execute the command to create a new object and key “New” and “Key”, respectively. Now you need to enter a name for the newly created key, which will be displayed in the context menu, after which we select the “Change” command and in the overview indicate the location of the program or application that will be responsible for the new action. We confirm the choice and reboot the system.
Removing keys in this section will cause the corresponding command from the menu to disappear. But if you don’t know which key is responsible for what, it’s better not to change the standard configuration.
Using the Context Menu Tuner
However, as practice shows, no one really wants to rummage through the registry (you never know what can happen). Therefore, we can recommend special utilities for adding and removing items to the OS context menu.
One of the simplest, but very functional, is a utility called Context Menu Tuner. It will help you quickly change the menu beyond recognition. Everything is simple here. The main window includes two panels. On the left are commands, on the right are folders and basic parameters. As is already clear, there is nothing easier than selecting the desired command and using the button to add it, say, to the desktop menu. Removal is done in reverse.
It is worth noting some additional options. First, you can select a file extension, and only then associate the corresponding command and program with it.
Changing the context menu access button
In the standard version, the default context menu button is the right mouse button. It’s very easy to swap the buttons and call up the context menu with a left click. To do this, you need to go to the mouse settings in the Control Panel and make the necessary manipulations. That's all.
The Explorer context menu is the menu that appears when you right-click (Right Mouse Button) on some object (file or folder) or simply on an empty space in a folder or Desktop. If your system is new, then the context menu will be relatively empty. Is it just something added from the video card drivers, for example like this:
but if the system has been installed for a long time, then there will be more such points. For example like this:
As you can see, over time, in addition to the standard menu items, more installed programs were added. On the one hand it is convenient. After all, you don’t need to launch a shortcut or search for a program, but you can directly perform actions right from the context menu. But on the other hand, over time there are a lot of such items and sometimes you even have to scroll up or down the context menu in search of the necessary items.
Therefore, sometimes you want to remove these items so as not to get in the way. After all, you don’t use all the points often.
So how remove item from context menu.
In order to remove a program item from the context menu (CM for short), you can use both standard methods of the Operating System itself, and using the programs themselves or specially designed ones.
The easiest way to remove it is to look in the settings of the program (which you want to remove) for the desired item. Usually it is located somewhere in Integrations or Loading/adding. For example, in order to remove the famous WinRAR item from KM, you need to uncheck the Shell integrations:
Other programs may also have similar settings.
It’s another matter when you haven’t found the necessary settings to delete or they don’t exist at all (this happens too). Then you can use the standard method of the systems itself, namely editing.
I warn you right away that before starting work it would be better to play it safe and make a backup copy of the registry.
So, let's launch the registry and go to the branch
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/*/shellexe/ContextMenuHandlers
and we see here these same items from the context menu.
Now right-click on the desired item (the item from the KM that you want to delete) and select Delete:
We agree with the following warning:
reboot and check. The item should disappear.
If you haven't missed it, check out the thread.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFileSystemObjects\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers
and do the same.
On a note:
If you want to delete an item specifically from KM -> Create
then you need to know the type of file () that is being created. For example, for Microsoft Office Access the file extension is .accdb, which means you need to look for it in the registry branch HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and then delete the ShellNew subkey there
If you want to remove from KM those items that appear when you RMB on folders, then you need to look at the branches:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
For the item "Open with..." the thread answers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\OpenWithList
For KM Logical drives branches:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
You can also delete items using special programs. For example using ShellExView
Its principle is simple: select the desired item and click on the red circle at the top of the program. The main thing here is that Type was Context menu
Now a little about how create your own item in the context menu.
The fact is that adding such an item for folders or specific files, as well as in an “empty” space using the registry will not work. You can only assign it to when it opens with RMB on the Desktop. Therefore, I recommend reading the article and taking advantage of what is described there.
Well, or use another utility - Ultimate Windows Context Menu Customizer() which has a bunch of features, but in English. And there we only need to select the item and delete it:
If anyone is interested in more details and can’t figure it out, write in the comments and I’ll help. There, in the left column you need to select an item (computer, folder, files, etc.) where the context menu is called up, and to the right, select what to delete and click the Remove Item button at the bottom. If you are fluent in English, you will understand.
You can guess how to add your program to KM -> Create if you read the entire article carefully, namely about deleting one of this items. You just need to create a subsection on the contrary and write for the desired extension.
In general, the article turned out to be a little chaotic and more about removing it from the context menu, because... I think this is more relevant, and there is an article about adding. Therefore, if anything is not clear, write in the comments. Let's figure it out.
Cleaning the context menu can be done manually through the registry, but this task is not trivial, since the entries are scattered in different places. In addition, it is not always easy to identify the appropriate registry key. For example, drivers are registered using the abbreviation “igfx”. The registry entries are scattered along the “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT” branch in the “shell” or “shellex” folders, which contains a folder called “ContextMenuHandlers”, which also includes individual parameters.
Shortening the context menu through the registry utility
Manual processing of context menu lines will take a lot of time. It is much easier to use the ShellExView program. Using regedit, you should only change system options.
To detect items from third-party programs in ShellExView, sort the results by the “Company” parameter and find “Context Menu” in the “Type” column.
The free ShellExView utility will create a single list of all these registry lines. Even on a relatively new system, their number can exceed 250. To avoid getting lost in them, after starting the program, the entries should first be sorted. Things will go smoothly if you click on the “type” line at the top of the window. This way you will immediately see all possible registry entries related, for example, to the “Context Menu”. But be careful: along with them, the utility will display lines from Shell, which it is better not to touch.
You can also sort by the “Company” parameter. In this case, the results will be arranged in alphabetical order - records created by the system and designated as “Microsoft” can be easily distinguished from the rest. Here, for example, you can select the corresponding “igfxDTCM Module” and disable it by clicking on the red dot at the top of the menu bar. After this, the entry for the (virtually useless) Intel driver graphics options will disappear from the context menu. However, for the system to apply these settings, you must first log out and then log in again. Alternatively, you can use the Task Manager to disable “explorer.exe” and then call this service again.
Changing system context menu items
Most of the lines in the context menu are created by the system itself. Among them there are also options that are not used by anyone, which, however, you would not want to accidentally activate by mistakenly pressing them. You can't simply get rid of them using the ShellExView program - you will have to manually modify the registry.
A good example is the Send to option that Windows shows every time the user clicks on a file or folder. Don't forget that some sending options do not meet today's needs: the default is generally set to "Fax Recipient".
To remove this item from the menu, in Regedit, navigate to “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT | AllFilesystemObjects | shellex | ContextMenuHandlers | SendTo". In the right window, double-click the “Default” option and before the long sequence of characters in curly braces, put a modest minus sign “–” to disable it. As always, you need to log out of Windows and log in again.
Right-click menus are called contextual menus because their contents depend on context—in other words, on what program you're in and what you clicked on. File utilities, many free programs and other applications, to make them more convenient to use, often add their own commands and entire sections to the context menus. This is done, in particular, by the archivers WinZip and WinRar, as well as the email clients Outlook Express and The Bat!, which add commands for packing and sending by email as attachments to the context menus of files.
Unfortunately, the more such programs are installed, the longer the context menus, the more cluttered they are, and the more difficult it is to find the right command. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that many programs, especially free ones, have the problem that the context menu commands they created remain even after the programs themselves are uninstalled.
However, some utilities provide convenient ways to configure and delete context menu commands. This is the best and most reliable way to restore order. But if there is no such function in the program (or if you managed to remove it), the composition of the menu can be changed using the Windows system registry.
However, before you go into the registry (which is not always safe), we will consider several of the most common programs that provide not only the creation of context menu commands, but also the ability to safely delete them.
WinZip Archives
The popular archiver utility WinZip adds several commands to file context menus (such as Add to Zip) or highlights them in the WinZip submenu. To configure these commands, start WinZip in "classic" mode (not Wizard mode) and select Options > Configuration. In version 8.1 and later, go to the System tab under Explorer Enhancements. In order not to rummage around too long to find the right command, in these versions you can disable the Display context menu items in a submenu mode - and then the archiving commands will be placed in the main menu, as in previous versions of WinZip.
To change individual commands, select or disable the appropriate items in the Context menu commands section. By disabling the Display icons on context menus mode, you can leave the commands in the menu, but remove the icons.
Finally, to completely eliminate WinZip commands from the context menu, disable Use shell extension (in versions 7 and 8) or Enable Explorer enhancements. However, keep in mind that you will lose the ability to extract content from the archive by right-clicking it, and you will not be able to expand the archive by dragging files onto its icon.
Configuring context menu commands created by the popular WinZip archiver
Music Winamp
The free Winamp media player adds three commands to the folder menu: Play in Winamp, Enqueue in Winamp, and Add to Winamp's Bookmark list. To remove them, Open Winamp and select Options > Preferences (Tools > Preferences) or right-click in the program window or on its panel and select the same command from its own context menu. An image of the hierarchical menu structure will appear on the left side of the window. Under General Preferences ( General settings) select the File types branch - in earlier versions it is called Setup - and disable the Show Winamp in folder context menus in Windows Explorer mode (Show Winamp in folder context menus in Windows Explorer) or, in earlier versions versions, Directory context menus and click the Close button.
Explorer context menus
In Windows 2000 and XP Pro, you can use the Group Policy tool to remove specific commands from the My Computer context menu and folders. Let's say we want to remove the Manage command from the My Computer context menu, which launches the Computer Management administration tool. To do this, select Start > Run, enter gpedit.msc and press Enter. A window will open, the left panel of which will display a hierarchical tree of commands. Go to Local Computer Policy\User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Explorer, double-click Hides the Manage item on the Windows Explorer context menu, select Enable mode (Enabled) and click OK.
This utility can also be launched by clicking Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Computer Management (Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Computer Management) and selecting Start > Run, entering compmgmt.msc and clicking OK.
To remove the entire folder context menu in Windows 2000, go to the Windows Explorer icon in the left pane and double-click Remove Windows Explorer's default context menu. In Windows XP you need to select the element of the same name, activate the Enable mode and click on the OK button.The next time you right-click on a folder located on the desktop or on an icon in Explorer, nothing will happen - however, the context menus of other objects such as toolbars will still work.To undo these changes, simply return to the described dialog box, select Not configured, and click OK.
In Windows 9x, to edit the context menu for a specific file type, open the My Computer window and select View > Folder Options. The Folder Options dialog box opens. If you go to the File Types tab, select the file of the desired type and click on the Edit button, another window will open - Edit File Type. This window has several useful functions, in particular you can change its icon or description. But the main thing is that at the bottom of the window are those of the context menu commands that can be changed, and a number of buttons for this: Remove, Set Default, as well as Edit and New.
Configuring Windows 9x Explorer context menus
As you can see, context menu commands can not only be deleted, but also created. True, for this it is necessary to be aware of certain agreements adopted when drawing up such teams. You can, of course, read smart books on this topic. However, for educational purposes, you can use a free program with a set of ready-made contextual commands. It's called Send To Toys and is located at http://www.gabrieleponti.com/software. Many of them, such as passing the file name and path to the clipboard, are useful in their own right - but even more so as a visual aid for composing your own context menu commands.