How to Customize the Right Click Menu in Windows 7

The Right Click menu offers a simple and effective way to perform actions on any file. However, if you install more applications it becomes more cluttered and may become confusing and difficult to use.

Here is a screenshot of my right-click menu:

You can see the there are many features and options. This will increase if I install more applications on my computer. Many applications and utilities add themselves to the right-click menu and as you install more of these applications, it can become very cluttered and confusing.

There is no direct way to edit the right-click menu. However, this can be edited by using the Registry Editor (REGEDIT). In this article, I will explain how to do this. It is not very complicated and can be done if you have fair proficiency with computers.

Before you make any edits to the Windows Registry, make sure to create a backup. The Windows Registry is a very crucial part of the operating system. If you make any mistakes, it can make your system unstable or cause it to completely become unusable and you may have reinstall your operating system.

Here are instructions:

Go to Start > Run > Type REGEDIT in run command
Edit Right click menu for files

To edit right click menu for files in registry editor go to

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

You will see folders under the ContextMenuHandlers folder. Click on any of the folder you want to edit. You can either delete any unwanted folder or you can modify it so that you can get it back in future.

Click on any folder. A key file will appear on the key panel (right side) . Right click on key file (Default) and click on Modify option.

You will see Edit string box. Now add a ‘-‘ sign before the middle bracket in Value data and click on OK button.

For example:

Original data

{CF74B903-3389-469c-B3B6-0204D204FCBD}

Edited data

-{CF74B903-3389-469c-B3B6-0204D204FCBD}

Notice that there’s a ‘-’ sign before the bracket in the edited data.

Now try right clicking on any file. The unwanted edited application will be gone from the right click menu application list.

How to Edit the Right Click Menu for Folders

The process is almost same but you have to edit the registry files of a different directory. Go to

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\

And edit as described in the earlier part of the article. You have to edit the registry key to disable folders under ContextMenuHandlers directory. You can do this by fadding a minus sign to the Value data and clicking on OK button. Now right click on any folder to check that particular disabled application. Right click menu on folder will not display the disabled application.

Aditya Venkatesh

I am a technology-enthusiast who is fascinated by computers and the Internet. I am also an amateur photographer. In the past, I worked as a technical writer for a well-known web development company in Hyderabad, India. I have a Master’s degree in Engineering.

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