Editing the context menu windows xp. Editing Windows context menu commands

Absolutely all computer users are faced with the concept of a context menu, regardless of the type of operating system used or its developer. Such an element is available in all currently known operating systems. But let's see what the Windows context menu is, what types it is and how to deal with it. We take Windows as a basis only for the simple reason that most users in the post-Soviet space work with just these operating systems. And first, a few words about the term itself.

What is a context menu in general terms?

Actually, the name of the menu itself comes from the English context. As for a simplified understanding, the context menu of Windows 10 or any other operating system can be interpreted as some additional element of the system's graphical interface, in which there are certain commands for quick access to some basic or additional functions.

So to say, in the context of selecting an object for which an additional menu is used, different commands will be available (this will be discussed separately).

Menu types

Actually, the operating system itself has several types of main and additional menus. For example, the main menu is accessed by pressing the "Start" button. Installed programs usually have their own element in the form of a top panel, which displays sections of basic operations, etc. Naturally, all such menus differ from each other both in appearance and in purpose. But it is the context menu that is universal in its own way and in a sense even connects applications to the operating system without the use of additional tools. Forgot how to perform some action? It's OK! This menu will tell you what to do and how, especially since many menus of this type can open additional lists.

Context menu items

As already mentioned, for different objects, the content of the menu can differ quite a lot. It all depends on the type of the selected object and the actions that are supposed to be performed. Everyone knows that in Explorer, through such a menu, when a file or folder is selected, you can set copying, moving, deleting, opening and performing a lot of other operations, except for using hot keys or their combinations.

On the "Desktop" when you click on an empty area of ​​the screen, you can quickly call up the screen settings or create shortcuts. But to perform such actions, following the standard methodology, it will take much more time. In general, as it is considered, the context menu is a unique invention. Despite the fact that almost all the items contained in it are duplicated both by the operating system itself and by some installed programs, its use often reduces the time to access certain actions and functions.

Differences between menus for different objects

Now let's consider the most important question regarding how menus of this type differ when a particular object is selected. It goes without saying that it will not be possible to describe all types, so we will focus on the most basic ones.

With files and folders sorted out a little. You can add that antiviruses, archivers and some other programs embed their own commands in such menus, so in addition to a set of standard actions, you can use their additional features.

If you use the menu for a disk or partition, you can already access the system tools here. Programs have their own elements of this type, however, the context menu for almost all active applications, if the upper left corner of the program window on the header is used as the selected object, the items are the same: closing, moving, minimizing and maximizing the active window, resizing, etc. It is clear that the content of each context menu for applications depends on the specifics of using the program. So, in web browsers, among the items, there are commands related specifically to actions with tabs or settings.

When using the menu for panels, it becomes possible to configure them, go to additional options, add or remove elements, etc. As already mentioned, it is physically impossible to describe the content of all types of opened menus, so let's move on.

How to open an additional menu: a few basic ways

Now a few words about how to call or open the context menu. Everyone knows that Windows uses RMB for this (clicking on This action is set in the default settings, although some use button reassignment, after which this control is called with the left button. In general, the mouse context menu, depending on the type used For example, for the same gaming mice, which have a lot of additional buttons, the accompanying software is usually installed, which allows you to control all their parameters and configure the buttons for a specific action, including calling additional menu.

Few people know that in Windows you can use not only RMB. For example, for laptops, it is very important to use the Shift + F10 combination. Also for this is the right button on the touchpad. On some non-standard keyboards for stationary computer terminals, you can find a special Menu key, which is usually located to the right of the Win button.

How to add additional items to the menu?

Finally, let's see how to add additional items or commands to the context menu. You can, of course, use Windows tools, but for this you have to delve into the registry, and this is very inconvenient.

The easiest way is to use the small program Context Menu Tuner, the interface of which consists of only two panels with command sets and areas of Windows Explorer.

To add or remove elements, there are only two buttons, so there should be no difficulties in using.

Practical Benefits

As for the advantages, a lot has already been said about them. This applies not only to the fact that the correctness of calling some actions can simply be forgotten. The versatility of such menus consists precisely in accelerating access to some standard and non-standard functions or actions, which would normally take much longer to call in the usual way. And so - RMB and all the necessary commands at hand!

Instead of total

I would like to hope that after reading the above material, many have figured out what this element of the operating system is. As for its use, there should be no questions at all, since in some situations you simply cannot do without it. And practice shows that one hundred percent of users out of a hundred always use the context menu, regardless of the actions performed.

You will need a small Right Click Enhancer utility. It offers an impressive list of commands that can be added to the context menu of any version of Windows since Vista.

After launching the Right Click Enhancer (if you are confused by the English interface, click Language → Russian to switch to Russian), you will see a set of tools, each of which makes its own changes to the context menu. Let's consider the most interesting of them.

Right Click Tweaker

With the help of the Right Click Tweaker tool, you can add almost two dozen useful commands to the context menu. Here are some of the most notable.

• "Copy to" opens a window for selecting a folder to which the current object can be copied.
• "Move to" acts like the previous command, only it does not copy, but moves the object.
• "Copy to Path" saves the path to the current object to the clipboard. This option can save time if you need, for example, to upload an image to a website or to a graphics editor. You just paste the path to the file instead of manually specifying it.
• "New folder" creates a folder right from the context menu, while the standard Windows method requires you to first go to the "Create" submenu, and then select "Folder".
• "Control Panel" opens the corresponding section with system settings.

To add a command to the context menu, just tick it.

Unfortunately, some Right Click Tweaker options do not yet work correctly with Cyrillic characters. Therefore, commands like "Copy Content", which saves the contents of text files to the clipboard, are best used only with English texts.

New Menu Editor

In the context menu there is an item "Create". By default, it can be used to quickly create objects of several types: text document, folder, shortcut, and others.

You can significantly expand this list with objects of other formats thanks to the New Menu Editor. It is enough to launch this tool and mark the necessary file types with a checkbox. To exclude objects that you do not plan to create from the list, mark them with a cross - they will disappear from the "Create" submenu.

Send To Manager

If you right-click on a folder or file, the "Submit" item will be displayed in the context menu. It contains a small list of folders and programs where you can export the selected item for storage or playback.

The Send To Manager tool will allow you to expand this list. To add a new directory to which you will send objects to the context menu, launch Send To Manager and click Add Folder. If you want to add a program, click "Add File" and select its icon.

All folders and programs added this way will appear in the Send to submenu.

Right Click Enhancer Professional

This tool is only available in the paid version of the program. For $10, you can add shortcuts to the context menu for quick access to programs, files, and folders, as well as create and customize submenus. All other features listed in the article are available for free.

The context menu (right-click menu) is a handy tool for speeding up work in Windows. Today we will reveal some simple secrets of working with the context menu and the system registry. Read how to customize this important element to your needs without third-party applications, using only the built-in regedit registry editor.

What is the convenience of the context menu (right-click menu) and why clear it

I would like to immediately decide on the terminology, so that in the future there will be no confusion.

Explorer's context menu, or action menu as it is sometimes called, is a set of commands invoked by clicking right(contextual) mouse buttons on any file or folder. Depending on the object for which it is called, the menu will have a different look or "context".

Note. Of course, not only Windows Explorer has an action menu, but also most installed applications, because this is the most convenient way to access the most important commands.

Immediately after installing the operating system, the context menu has a standard and neat appearance, but as additional software is installed, new items are constantly added to it. In the end, there are so many of them that the use of this useful tool turns into flour. Therefore, it is critical to be able to maintain the contents of the Windows context menu in order for fast and comfortable work.

This can be done in two ways:

• In semi-automatic mode, using third-party software.
• Manually, using the Windows Registry Editor.

Perhaps the first method can be a little easier, but the second method does not need to use various dubious programs downloaded from the Internet, everything is done by standard means.

Moreover, using the registry will allow you to delve deeper into the internal processes of the system and learn a lot of new things, so we will talk about the second option.

How to edit the Explorer context menu through the registry

We start the registry editor:

1. Entering the menu P usk.
2. Enter the command in the search bar regedit and press Enter.

Important! Any careless and thoughtless operations can have dangerous consequences, up to a complete failure to boot Windows. To insure yourself against errors, be sure to back up the registry before editing it!

The procedure for creating a backup registry file:

1. Go to menu " File» in an open editor.
2. Select the item " Export».
3. In the window that opens, in the lower field " Export range”, choose “ Whole registry».
4. Specify the desired location and name of the new file and click " Save».

Note.In case of problems after manual editing, the registry can be restored to its original state from a backup using the " Import" on the menu " File» editor regedit.

As you can see, the registry itself has an original tree structure. The tree itself is displayed on the left side of the editor, and the list of parameters in the selected branch is displayed on the right side. To work with the context menu, we are interested in a single section: " HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT».

As already mentioned, different sets of commands correspond to different objects (folders, files), so they will have to be edited in the registry separately. Our main goals: clear folder context menu and common menu items for all file types.

Important! We will not change the standard system context menu items through the registry. Only items added by installed applications are edited.

Folder Context Menu Cleanup

All directory context menu settings are stored in branches:

…Direct Shell.

... Directory Shellex ContextMenuHandlers .

… Folder Shell ex ContextMenuHandlers .

If you look closely, it is easy to see familiar commands among the branches of these branches. So, a branch of the registry " Directory Shell" contains the items at the top of the menu, and " Directory Shellex ContextMenuHandlers"- bottom. " Folder ShellEx ContextMenuHandlers”, basically repeats the content of the previous branch, so delete the same items from both branches if necessary.

It remains only to remove the extra commands. The choice of what to remove and what to leave on the list is already a personal matter for everyone. Moreover, depending on the list of installed applications, the contents of the menu will differ significantly. Right-click on the registry entry you don't want and select " Delete". Then repeat this operation for the remaining selected elements.

This is the neat look of the registry branches in question and the menu itself after the cleaning procedure is completed.

File context menu cleanup

The procedure itself is no different from the one that was carried out in the previous section. Only branches of the registry branch " HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT”, which store the necessary parameters.

Now this:

…*shellexContextMenuHandlers.

They store common elements for all file types registered in the system.

Following the example of cleaning for folders, we delete all unnecessary branches in the registry and get a beautiful and convenient context menu.

In the process of using the computer, your context menu is "clogged" with various items added by your installed programs. To make matters worse, time delays appear, context menus appear, slow you down and make 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 it, or at least reduce the delay. To do this, we 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 Turn off. The change takes effect immediately, and you do not need to restart your computer. 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, but want to see it in the context menu again, you will have to reinstall the applications associated with it.

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.

Customization with ShellExView

CCleaner is easy to use, but you may have noticed that it doesn't show all of the context menu items, and therefore not all of them can be disabled. But fortunately there is another ShellExView tool. After downloading and running ShellExView, it automatically scans the system.

To view only those records 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 like.

To disable an entry in the context menu, select it and click on the red button in the upper left corner. When you click on the button, a dialog box will appear with confirmation of disabling the selected element, click OK. If you want to turn it on again later, you guessed it, press the green button (although in my opinion it's 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 in 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 wouldn't recommend doing that. Even for advanced users, this process is much more tedious and time consuming (the context menu items are stored in five different places in the registry). When editing the registry, it is not possible to easily disable the context menu entry, you can only delete them - so you will 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 you are certainly not a young system administrator, or you want to make fun of a friend and crave knowledge, then read here how to configure the context menu using the registry.

Secrets of Productive Work on the Computer

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 in the computer:

by execution - text and graphic

by function – application main menu, pop-up, context and system menu

What is a context menu and how to call it

A context menu is a separate kind of menu on a computer; 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 part is stored in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers section.

How does the context menu open?

There are different ways to call the context menu

At the bottom of the keyboard, between the "ALT" key and the "CTRL" key, there is a special button. It shows the additional features and actions available for this file. It usually has a sign and a mouse pointer on it. This button brings up the context menu.

It is used if it is necessary to highlight the shortcuts of the necessary files, as well as inside already running programs. When you click on this button, the context menu is called according to the current situation.

Right mouse button on the keyboard is also successfully replaced by this button.

This method is for those who prefer to use the keyboard, while you can also open the context menu with the mouse.

Hovering the mouse over the desired file, select it with a left click. Right-clicking on a selected area will open a context menu. When several items are selected, 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 by clicking on the selected area with the right button.

How to customize the right click context menu

For the right mouse button, a simple Context Menu Tuner program will help you configure the context menu. It will tell you how to customize the Windows 7 context menu.

Consider how to set up 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

We add a command. To do this, select it on the left side and "connect" with the preferred element on the right. Click "Add".

Other commands are added similarly.

To remove a command, select it and click "Delete"

The right-click context menu is now configured.