Editing the context menu. How to customize the context menu for productivity in Windows
In this lesson we will take a closer look at the functions of a very useful key that is found on any keyboard. This key is called the "Context Menu key". It is located in the lower right part of the keyboard between the ALT and CTRL keys
When you press this key, a CONTEXT MENU CALLS UP, exactly the same as if you pressed the RIGHT mouse button.
The trick of this button is that the menu called up when clicked will display functions (menu items) that can be applied in the current program, in the active window, on the desktop, etc. Those. This menu adapts to the process in which you are directly working, and this is very convenient.
Now let's take a closer look at the main options for displaying the context menu in different environments and the functions that can be performed using this menu.
1. Click the RIGHT mouse button or the “Context Menu” key on the Windows Desktop
For Windows 7
When you press the RIGHT mouse button or the “Context Menu” key on the Windows 7 desktop, a menu that looks like this appears:
1. At the very top of the menu - setting parameters Your video card.
2.View- customize the display of icons on the desktop
3. Sorting- setting sorting by displaying icons on the desktop
4. Update- updating the display of content on the Desktop.
5.Insert- if you copied something, you can paste it onto the Desktop.
6. Create. Here you can create on the Desktop: a folder, a shortcut, a text document, an archive, MS Office documents - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. (if installed)
7. Screen resolution. Here you can set the necessary screen settings: select a screen (there may be several of them), find out or set the screen resolution, determine the screen orientation, and also configure other parameters for working with the screen, for example, connecting a projector.
8. Gadgets- selection and installation of Windows 7 gadgets. Windows XP does not have such a function.
9. Personalization. Here you can customize the appearance of the Worker, change the background, screensaver, sounds, theme, window color, etc.
For Windows XP
In Windows XP, as many people certainly know, the context menu looks simpler, but performs almost the same functions.
When you press the RIGHT mouse button or the “Context Menu” key on the Windows XP desktop, the following menu appears:
1. Using the first menu item Arrange icons we can perform the following operations:
Screen resolution configured on the tab Options
2. Clicking the RIGHT mouse button or the “Context Menu” key on a file or folder in Explorer or any other file manager.
When you click the RIGHT mouse button or the “Context Menu” key on a file in Explorer or any other file manager, the menu is also adjusted to the file of a certain type. For example, I clicked by video file. The following menu opens:
In this case, the menu offers functions that correspond specifically to the video file: play, add to the list of the player that is selected by default for this file type. And a number of standard functions: open with, add to archive (if the archiver is installed), send, cut, copy, delete, rename and file properties.
If you click with the RIGHT mouse button or on the “Context Menu” key on a graphic file, then a menu will open that will correspond to the graphic file type:
Here you can immediately open, edit or print the selected file in your default image program. In my case, this is the ACDSee program.
You can immediately make the selected file the background image for your Desktop, which is very convenient when you choose from a large list. And then again there are standard functions for working with files.
There are no significant differences in Windows XP,
standard functions for working with a file are called by the command Change
I will dwell in more detail on the “Open with” and “Send” items.
Why is the “Open with” function useful?
Here you can select or assign any installed program that understands the selected file format to work with the selected file. In this case, I clicked on the video file and several programs can work with this format on my computer: Light Allow, WinAmp and of course Windows Media Player.
If the program you need is not in the list, but you know for sure that it is installed, select the menu item "Select program". Windows will prompt you to select programs from a list of recommended or other programs.
In Windows XP, the appearance of this window is slightly different, but the meaning is the same:
If you want the selected file format to always be opened by the program you choose, then check the box “Use the selected program for all files of this type”.
If the desired program is not in the list of recommended programs or in others, but you know for sure that the program is installed, then press the button "Review…" and select it from the folder where the program is installed.
Why is the “Send” function useful?
Using this function, you can, so to speak, “without leaving the cash register”, you can send (transfer, transfer) the selected file via BlueTooth (bluetooth), Skype, mail, to the Desktop, to the archive, for burning to a CD/DVD disk, to a flash drive etc.
3. Pressing the RIGHT mouse button or the “Context Menu” key in any Internet browser.
And here, too, the menu adapts to different situations, depending on where you click on the web page. For example, if you click link, then the following menu will open:
Using this menu, you can open the contents of the link in a new tab or window, add the link to bookmarks, send the link, copy the link, if the link is a file, then you can save it using “Save Target As...”. If you have download programs installed, you can download the contents of the link using them.
If you click the RIGHT mouse button or the “Context Menu” key from the picture on the web page, then a menu with other functions will open:
Here you can copy the image to the clipboard and paste, for example, into a Word document, you can save the image to your computer using “Save image as...”, send the image by mail, make the selected image the desktop background, find out information about the image (type, size, file name), etc.
Let me sum it up. In this lesson, we looked at the most popular options for using the context menu, which is called by clicking the RIGHT mouse button or pressing the “Context Menu” key on the keyboard.
Namely:
1. Click the RIGHT mouse button or the “Context Menu” key on the Windows Desktop
2. Clicking the RIGHT mouse button or the “Context Menu” key on a file or folder in Explorer or any other file manager.
3. Pressing the RIGHT mouse button or the “Context Menu” key in any Internet browser.
The essence of this lesson is to learn how to use useful functions of the specific active environment of your computer. In any environment, by right-clicking or pressing the “Context Menu” key, you will receive a list of useful functions available at a given time relative to the selected object.
Very often, after installing various programs, unnecessary items are added to the context menu. For example, after installing any player, a new item for the right mouse button will definitely appear. That is, when we right-click on any file to open it in the specified program, an option to run using this program will be displayed.
Here, for example, is my context menu:
It's not quite small anymore.
With time items in the context menu It becomes a lot, in short, it becomes clogged with unnecessary rubbish. In this lesson we will look at how they can be removed using standard system tools. Although many programs have already been created for these purposes.
The system registry stores all data about the operation of Windows programs and components. In this regard, careless handling of the registry and the slightest change can greatly affect the operation of the system, so be careful when making changes to it.
How to remove unnecessary items from the context menu?
Go to Start and click the Run button.
In the window that opens, enter the command Regedit and click OK.
Open the following folders:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT * shellexe ContextMenuHandlers
Having reached this path, we need to do the following. Right-click on the folder menu item that we want to delete. Let's say I want to remove shortcuts from the context menu - Notepad notepad, 7-Zip archiver. In the list that opens, select Delete.
Then we confirm the deletion.
We restart the computer and look at the result - these items are no longer there. This is how to remove unnecessary context menu items.
Useful video:
STOP! Read similar articles - learn new things:
Comments:
How to remove "CUT"?
That's it, thanks)) I found a solution in CCleaner (my version is 5.06). If anyone needs it: in the program, open Tools/Startup/top "context menu" tab. You can remove unnecessary items from the list or temporarily disable them. It couldn’t be simpler!)))
In particular, Tru Image (from acronis) and Ultra ISO are in the menu, but they are not in this section of the registry. For example, like you have with Unlocker.
What if more programs are displayed in the menu, but there are none in ContextMenuHandlers? Where then to look for them?
Finally, thanks to your article, I saw where the items in the context menu are stored. Many thanks to the author for the training.
Thank you
Thank you! It worked for Win 8.1 too.
Huge gratitude! I have no words. Everything is clear and in accessible language.
As you use your computer, your context menu becomes clogged with various items added by your installed programs. To make matters worse, there are time delays in the appearance of the context menu, slowing you down and making you wait every time you right-click on a file or folder.
What happens when you right-click a file? Are there significant delays in the appearance of the context menu? Then I’ll tell you how to get rid of this, or at least reduce the delay. To do this, we will need to remove some context menu items to speed up the process. Even if it pops up quickly, you can remove some context elements just to tidy up the menu. Let's look at how you can customize the context menu
Editing with CCleaner
One of the fastest, easiest ways to customize the context menu is the popular app CCleaner. The context menu editing feature was added to CCleaner relatively recently, so you must have the latest version of the application installed to use this feature.
In the running program, click on the icon Service in the sidebar, select , and go to the tab Context menu at the top of the list. You will see a list of context menu items; you can easily disable and customize the context menu to your liking
To disable an entry in the context menu, select it and click the button Switch off. The change takes effect immediately; no restart is required. The button should not be used Delete- If you disable an entry in the context menu, you can easily re-enable it later. But if you have already uninstalled it but want to see it in the context menu again you will have to reinstall the associated applications.
On the left picture below is my menu before settings, on the right after. The speed of appearance has increased significantly, which is an integral part of comfortable work.
Configuration using ShellExView
CCleaner is easy to use, but you may have noticed that it does not show all context menu options, and therefore not all of them can be disabled. But fortunately there is another tool, ShellExView. After downloading and launching ShellExView, it automatically scans the system.
To view only those entries that belong to the context menu, select the menu item Settings, select Filter by extension type, and select Context menu.
The list includes both third-party context menu items and built-in ones that come with Windows. Third-party context menu items are highlighted in pink. You can also disable some of the built-in context menu items if you wish.
To disable an entry, select it in the context menu and click on the red button in the upper left corner. When you click the button, a dialog box will appear confirming how to disable the selected element; click OK. If you want to turn it on again later, as you may have guessed, press the green button (although in my opinion this is not a button, but a light bulb))))
You will have to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. It's not as convenient as CCleaner, but you can manage all the context menu items.
It is also possible to remove context menu entries by editing the registry directly, but I would not recommend this. Even for experienced users, this process is much more tedious and time-consuming (context menu items are stored in five different places in the registry). When editing the registry, there's no way to easily disable entries in the context menu, only deleting them - so you'll have to back up each key before deleting it if you want to restore it later. If there are programs, why complicate your life. But if, of course, you are not a young system administrator, or you want to prank a friend and are thirsty for knowledge, then read here to set up the context menu using the registry.
We are already familiar with the concept of a context menu. It's time to deepen our knowledge about it and consider the topic - How to remove or add commands to the Windows context menu.
Windows functionality allows the user to edit the context menu to suit their taste.
Editing the context menu (a set of “Explorer” or “action” menu commands) is possible in one of two ways:
- Through program parameters;
- Through the Windows registry;
- Using additionally installed applications.
Let's see how it's done:
Installed programs themselves often have (by default) the function of integration into a set of context menu (CM) commands. Then such a parameter is present in their settings on the main tabs, or maybe on such as “Integration”, “Download” or “Add”, etc. For example, for the VinRAR archiver it is enough to uncheck the box in the settings:
It is clear that in this way you can either add (install) or remove (remove) command(s) from the list. The same applies to other applications.
Working with the registry
When working with the Windows Registry, you need to be very careful. To get into the registry, you need to search in the Start menu by typing “regedit” and run the found executable file “regedit.exe”:
Making a copy
Before editing the Registry of any version of Windows (including Windows 7), do not forget to create a backup copy of it to be on the safe side. To do this, in the editor, on the “File” tab, select the “Export” command. Select “Entire registry” at the bottom of the dialog that opens. By assigning a name and specifying the location - “Save”:
If something irreparable happens (especially for an inexperienced person), you can return the registry to its previous state using the “File” / “Restore” command, specifying the previously created backup file.
Cleaning up the directory set
The registry itself looks like a tree-like block diagram (on the left), each of the branches of which has its own parameters (on the right). The “shell”, “Shellex ContextMenuHandlers” and “Folder\shell” branches of the “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Directory” directory are responsible for the context menu of folders. Having examined these branches in more detail, you can make sure that the “shell” folder contains the upper part of the context set, and “Shellex ContextMenuHandlers” - the lower part. The folder “Folder\shell” repeats the previous one.
Removal of program elements from the set is carried out in each of the branches. Right-click to select the delete element and call the “Delete” command:
Now for the files
The same procedure is used here, but in different branches. Since the “*/shellexContextMenuHandlers” and “*/shell” branches in the “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT” registry section are responsible for the set of Context Menu commands for files:
The removal procedure is completely similar. Just don’t forget to delete unnecessary things in both branches.
We use third-party applications
It is much easier (and safer for a beginner) to remove or add an item to the context menu of any version of Windows (including Windows 7) using additional utilities.
After installation and launch, in the program window (in the “Type” column), you can see all programs from the Windows context menu (type = Context Menu).
Remove unnecessary items by selecting and clicking the red circle:
An interesting and useful utility with a self-explanatory name (available in a free version) Ccleaner. It has many beneficial properties. Website - http://ccleaner.org.ua/. In our case, it clears the registry of unused entries, paths to programs, shortcuts, etc.:
To clear the Context Menu, go to “Tools” and find “Context Menu” in the “Startup” tabs. A list of applications added to the set and their status will be displayed here (enabled: yes/no):
To delete - while on a line, use the right mouse to call up the “Delete” command. Since repeated return (inclusion in the list) is possible only when reinstalling or reconfiguring the application, it is recommended to select the “Disable” option. - Then it can be easily returned (“Enable”).
Add with FileMenu Tools
It's very easy to add a new item to the context menu using the FileMenu Tools program.
It offers the user three tabs:
- Left - management of suggested elements;
- Medium - to configure the “Send” function;
- Right - disables commands entered by third-party programs from the list:
You need to add a new element using the “Add Command” command. The lower right part of the window is used to indicate its parameters - “Properties”. For example, to add the line “Open in Firefox” to the menu list (opening HTM and HTML files):
You need to enter the name in “Menu Text”, and extension options in “Extensions”:
In “Program Properties” the route to the executable file of the Firefox.exe application is specified:
The added item is saved by clicking the green element at the top of the window (left):
This article helped you understand the various ways to edit the context menu. Now you know how to add and remove elements from it not only using Windows, but also using other programs.
Secrets of Productive Computer Work
Context menu in Windows
The menu is the most important element of the graphical user interface, with which you can select the desired program option.
Types of menus on a computer:
by execution – text and graphic
by function - main application menu, pop-up, context and system menu
What is a context menu and how to call it
A context menu is a separate type of menu on a computer; a list of available commands for working with this file.
Where is the context menu?
Its storage location is the Windows registry, which consists of two sections. One part of the programs is stored in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell section, the other in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers section.
How does the context menu open?
There are different ways to bring up the context menu
There is a special button at the bottom of the keyboard, between the "ALT" key and the "CTRL" key. It shows additional functions and actions available for a given file. It usually has a sign and a mouse pointer on it.
This button brings up the context menu.
It is used if you need to highlight shortcuts to necessary files, as well as inside already running programs. When you click this button, the context menu is called up according to the current situation. Right mouse button on keyboard
can also be successfully replaced with this button.
This method is for those who prefer to use the keyboard, while you can open the context menu using the mouse.
Move the mouse over the desired file and select it by left-clicking. Right-clicking the highlighted area will open a context menu. When you select multiple items, the context menu will display the actions available for the selected group of files.
How to open the context menu when working on a laptop or netbook? On these devices, the mouse function is transferred to the built-in touchpad. The context menu is called up by right-clicking on the highlighted area.
How to customize the right-click context menu
For the right mouse button, a simple program called Context Menu Tuner will help you configure the context menu. She will tell you how to configure the Windows 7 context menu.
Let's look at how to configure the right mouse button.
Download and run the program
The program interface consists of two different panels: the left one contains a list of commands supported by the program, the right one includes the OS explorer areas. Set the Russian language in the settings
Adding a command. To do this, select it on the left side and “connect” it with the preferred element on the right. Click "Add".
Other commands are added in the same way.
To delete a command, select it and click "Delete"
