Change the Windows 10 context menu. How to remove unnecessary tasks from the Windows context menu. How to edit the Explorer context menu through the registry

In Windows 10, Microsoft abandoned the classic Explorer context menu in favor of an updated one that is larger and easier to use on touch devices, as well as high-resolution and pixel-dense screens. If you new design not satisfied, try to return the old one, following these instructions.

Explorer and desktop

The first method involves editing system registry, a thing familiar to any experienced customizer. All you need to do:

1. Launch the registry editor, for example through a search on the taskbar - regedit.
2. Open section
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FlightedFeatures.
3. Create in it DWORD value (32-bit) With name ImmersiveContextMenu and value equal 0 .

To apply the changes you have made, you will need to restart Explorer using the task manager (explorer.exe), restart the computer, or simply log out and log in again, as you prefer.

Now you can again use the compact classic context menu (screenshot below) instead of the new one (screenshot above) on the desktop and in Explorer windows.

Unfortunately, this tweak does not work on the really heavy taskbar context menu. If you don't like it in the first place, you'll have to resort to using third-party utilities.

Task bar

To change the appearance of the taskbar context menu, you must use free utility, connecting a specially created library (.dll) to the system. This library changes the appearance of the context menu to the one that was available in earlier Windows builds 10 and previous versions of the operating system.

As you can see from the screenshots, the utility not only returns the more compact dimensions of this menu, but also the classic colors. According to Microsoft's strange logic, it is in latest versions Windows 10 appears dark, just like the default taskbar, but does not change color to match the user's chosen color scheme.

Using Windows 10 Taskbar Context Menu Tweaker is not difficult: just run the file Load.bat to apply changes and Unload.bat to cancel them, pay attention to the bit size: 32 or 64). To ensure that changes are saved even after you restart your computer, place a shortcut on Load.bat to the startup folder - C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp.

Right-clicking on the desktop allows you to access a number of useful functions and settings, from changing the appearance of shortcuts to quick access to Windows 10 personalization settings. But it also happens that when you right-click on the desktop, nothing happens, the context menu does not open. The reason for this may be a temporary glitch that can be resolved by simply restarting Explorer or restarting the computer, but if these actions did not help restore the function, it is worth checking the following points.

Reason 1

Firstly, the menu will not open if tablet mode is enabled on your Windows 10. At Windows installation On a tablet device, the system turns it on automatically, but this may also be the case on some laptops. In settings go to the section System - Tablet Mode, from the When I sign in menu, select Use Desktop Mode. Re-login to the system and check that the menu called up by RMB works correctly.

Reason 2

Now check if right click is disabled in the registry. To do this, the team regedit open the registry editor and expand the branch HKEY_CURRENT_USER/SoftwareMicrosoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer. See if there is an option on the right NoViewContextMenu. If there is, make sure that its value is set to 0. If there is no parameter, there is nothing to worry about, the problem with displaying the menu has another reason.

What else could it be?

Calling the context menu on the desktop Windows desktop 10 may break third-party extensions and shells included in various programs. A free portable utility will help you check and, if necessary, disable them ShellExView from the developer NirSoft. Download it along with the crack from official page www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html and run it. In the utility menu, select “Settings” and check the “Hide/show all Microsoft extensions” option.

In this case, the list of elements in the utility window will be significantly reduced. These will be all third-party extensions. Select them all with the mouse and click on the red “Deactivate selected elements” button on the toolbar, and then restart Explorer from the “Settings” menu in the utility itself or in any other way convenient for you.

The Explorer context menu is the menu that appears when you right-click ( Right Buttons Mouse) 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 from installed programs. 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 Operating System, and with the help of 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 didn't find required settings for removal or they are not there at all (this also happens). Then you can use in a standard way the systems itself, namely editing.
I warn you right away that before starting work it would be better to play it safe and do backup copy 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 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 that, an entry about (virtually useless) graphics options Intel drivers 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 open the “Default” option and precede the long sequence of characters in curly braces with a modest minus sign “–” to disable it. As always, you need to log out of Windows and log in again.

Many will probably agree that appearance contextual Windows menu 10 is one of the most controversial elements of the updated design of the new Microsoft OS. Not only do they look completely different in different places in the system, but also the main menu option turned out frankly so-so.

Take a look for yourself:

Compared to the analogue from previous versions OS new menus are noticeably larger, the separators between elements are very noticeable, and the sweeping arrows indicating the presence of submenus look very sloppy.

If you also think so, then pay attention to a very simple way to improve the appearance of Windows 10 context menus, which will bring them closer to the appearance of the previous ones Windows versions. It was first described on the English-language portal Askvg.

To begin, press Win+R on your keyboard. In the window that appears, type regedit and press Enter.

Once you open the final FlightedFeatures folder, create a new DWORD value in it:

Rename the newly created option to ImmersiveContextMenu. By default it will be assigned the value 0, which is exactly what we need.

You should now close the Registry Editor and restart your computer. If you don’t want to reboot again, you can simply restart the Explorer process in the task manager. Once this is done, you will see that the context menus have changed noticeably:

For clarity, let’s demonstrate the difference once again:

The newly enabled style, although not a complete copy of the menu from Windows 7/8, is visually very close to them. The difference is even more noticeable when evaluating long context menus. For example, this is what the folder context menu looks like by default in Windows 10:

And this is how it will change after creating a new parameter in the registry: