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Add Or Remove Items From Windows Context Menu

May 17, 2010 by bharath

messy windows context menu

Context Menu appears when you right-click on any Windows folder or a file.When you install programs, it is very common that they fight with each-other to occupy the content menu.This context menu list will just keep on increase as you install new programs in your PC.But it is very unlikely that you use all such programs from the context menu, then why have it there? It is very annoying in such cases and you might want to get rid of all such menu items.Read on to get the possible solutions..

Using Registry Editor:

You need to find two items in registry editor which pops up by typing Regedit in your run command area.

In the registry editor, find the following items:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Shell Context Menu Handlers in regedit

As shown in the above diagrams, you will find most of your context menu items under shellex, which you can edit to hide or disable.

Regedit shell context menu handlers

To hide any context menu item, just right click on the key> choose Modify data?> just add some dashes before the Value data filed, this will hide that particular item for appearing in the context menu handlers.

Well, working with registry values is always going to be dangerous particular if you edit some other key values instead of the correct one.So I always prefer using simple programs available for obtaining the same result in a easier way.

ContextEdit:

ContextEdit displays list of static context menu handler items that appear when you right-click on any folder or file.You can easily disable them by unchecking against it.

ContextEdit

Download ContextEdit (487 KB)

FileMenu Tools:

FileMenu Tools, is another great free utility which allows you add, delete or manage the context menu items, you can even choose move a particular context menu item down (or up).

Download FileMenu Tools (7.4 MB)

Speed Up Windows Boot Up and Startup Using gpedit and DPS

May 7, 2010 by dennis

In Windows PC, slow boot up and slow startup is one of the major problem we face. During the starting of Windows, it may take a lot of time to come to the logon screen and then to the desktop. This kind of problem is common in PCs which are older and a lot of programs are running.

One method we have already posted to speed up your Windows PC is by using MSCONFIG. Here, we will be solving the slow boot up problem using Windows Boot Performance Diagnostics of Diagnostic Policy Service(DPS).

Diagnostic Policy Service (DPS) will detect Windows Boot Performance problems and attempt to determine their root causes. These root causes will be detected and corrective actions will be taken to solve the problems.

Follow the steps below to enable Windows Boot Performance Diagnostics.

1. Open Local Group Policy Editor

Press Start + R and Type gpedit.msc and press Enter. Incase of

2. Go to Windows Boot Performance Diagnostics

In the Left Pane of Local Group Policy Editor go to the location:

Computer Configuration—>Administrative Templates—>System—>Troubleshooting and Diagnostics—>Windows Boot Performance Diagnostics

3. Open Configure Scenario Execution Level of Windows Boot Performance Diagnostics

Now in the right pane Double Click on Configure Scenario Execution Level.

4. Enable Windows Boot Performance Diagnostics

Now Click on Enable and Select Scenario Execution Level as Detection, Troubleshooting and Resolution. Click OK

If you select Detection and Troubleshooting only then the root causes will be logged to the event log when detected, but no corrective action will be taken.

Now Windows Will Diagnose your Startup problems and try to fix them for a faster boot and startup.

Important Notes:

Note 1: Windows Boot Performance Diagnostics is a part of the Diagnostic Policy Service(DPS). So DPS should be running in your computer in order to successfully diagnose the problems. To check whether the service is running or not, Press Start + R and Type services.msc. Check out for Diagnostic Policy Service.

Incase if it is not started, you have to start it using MSCONFIG. To do that, Press Start + R and Type msconfig. Go to Services tab and Check Diagnostic Policy Service. Press OK.Note 1:

Note 2: This service is available only in Windows Vista and Windows 7. And Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) may be available only with versions like Professional or higher.

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How To Uninstall All Your Windows 7 Games

May 6, 2010 by bharath

Windows logo

Windows 7 much like the previous versions of Windows (Windows XP, Windows Vista), has some wonderful preloaded games in it.The games include Chess Titans, FreeCell, Hearts, Internet Games, Mahjong Titans, Minesweeper, Purble Place, Solitaire, Spider Solitaire.For some reasons, if you want to disable or unstill any game or all the games that came with your Windows 7, here’s the procedure you need to follow:

1. Go to Start menu and type “Windows Features” in the search, click on the first result under the section Control Panel.You can alternatively go to Control Panel> Programs> Turn Windows Features on or off option.

turn windows features search

Programs and features in Windows 7

2. Under the Windows Features window, click expand button to see all the 11 games that came with your Windows 7.You can uncheck any desired game to uninstall it from your Windows or you can uncheck entire Games section to unstill all your Windows 7 games.

Games in Windows features turn on or off

Click OK to apply the changes, wait for few minutes for the changes to effect.

Applying changes to Windows features

3. You can go to your Games Explorer by typing games in the Windows 7 start menu search and you can see the games that are currently available in your Windows.If you have disabled all the games by unchecking the Games folder in the Windows Features section, you will no longer find any games here.

WSUS Offline Update: Update Your Windows And Office Offline

May 2, 2010 by bharath

Windows Update

It’s very much essential to keep your Windows OS up-to-date when it comes to securing your OS from security threats which may cause damage to your private data.Microsoft knows the importance of the same, hence release Windows update patches more often.You need to be connected to the internet to download these updates from Microsoft.

But what about those innumerable number of people who still can’t manage to get an internet connection for them? Microsoft used to offer AutoPatcher,unfortunately this service was discontinued from 2007.Luckily there are some third party software available on the internet which provide the similar offline update facility, the one which I’m going to talk about is WSUS Offline Update.

WSUS Offline Update:

WSUS Offline Update lets you download the patches and updates for Windows and MS Office without requiring an active internet connection on the target computer.All that you need to do is go to your friend’s computer which is having an internet connection, install this WSUS Offline Update, download the Windows updates on an USB drive (or some other removable media) and transfer them to your machine and install them using WSUS Offline Update.

Features:

1. WSUS Offline Update supports: Windows XP, Windows Vista & Windows 7.

2. Supports MS Office 2003 & 2007 versions.

3.You can create an ISO of the updates.

4. Supports copying updates directly to USB

Download:

You can visit the Homepage of the WSUS developers or follow this direct link to download the WSUS Offline Update version 6.51

Backup Your Windows Registry In Simple Steps [How To]

April 30, 2010 by bharath

Windows logo

It is always essential to backup a copy of the windows registry before performing any operation that involves the editing of one or more keys in the regedit.This tutorial aims at making it easier for you to do a complete registry backup in simple steps:

Method-1: Using Windows Registry Editor

1. Open run command by pressing Start button + R.Type regedit and click OK.

regedit run command

2. The Registry Editor will open up.Select the keys or sub keys which you want to export, right-click on it and choose Export.You can also export the make the backup the entire Windows registry by going to File>Export but it’ll only add to the file size.In my case, when I saved the entire registry editor backup, it was around 20 MB.

Export regedit keys export option in regsitry editor

3. Save the registry backup to your local drive.

save regedit backup file

Method 2: Using ERUNT

ERUNT stands for The Emergency Recovery Utility for NT can be used in Windows NT/200-/2003/XP, Windows Vista & Windows 7 to backup the entire registry editor.

Download ERUNT for here and follow the following steps:

1. Run the ERUNT

ERUNT save backup

2. Set the location where you want to save the entire registry backup file and click OK.

ERUNT in action

Click OK on the dialog box which you’ll see when the registry backup operation is completed.

registry backup complete in ERUNT

With this, The registry hives (Config, SAM, Security, Software, System) gets backed up on the path that you have selected.

All the 2 methods mentioned above will work on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

[How To] Configure AutoPlay In Windows 7

April 30, 2010 by bharath

We are here with yet another tutorial.In this tutorial, I’m going to discuss about how to disable AutoPlay in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.[AutoPlay for CDs/DVDs and AutoRun for USB flash drives or for any removable flash drives.]

AutoPlay (and AutoRun) is disabled by default in Windows 7 and Vista.That’s why Windows gives you an option to choose the possible actions that you can take without directly playing the DVD in media player.Start reading the following tutorial to learn how to enable or disable AutoPlay .

Tutorial: How to enable/ disable AutoPlay

Covers: Windows 7/ Vista

User level: Intermediate

Complexity: Easy

1. Go to Control Panel, and choose “Hardware and Sound” options.

Under AutoPlay, click Play CDs or other media automatically.

2. Now AutoPlay options window will open.Under uncheck under “Choose what happens when you insert each type of media or device” to completely disable AutoPlay globally for all types of devices.

choose_autoplay_options

3. If you want to disable AutoPlay for particular devices like DVD movie instance, select the “Take no action” under the DVD Movie options.

disable_autoplay_for_single_type

Likewise you can also configure auto play for USB devices and other plug and play devices.

Using Group Policy Editor [For Business/ Ultimate Editions] :

This methods works only for Business and Ultimate versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

Go to run command by pressing Start button + R.Type gpedit.msc in the text field and click OK.

gpedit run command

From the Group Policy Editor window, navigate to Computer Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Windows Components\ Autoplay Policies\ Turn off Autoplay, you will see the “Turn off Autoplay” window as in the screenshot.

To enable the AutoPlay, just change the value of “Turn off Autoplay” to Disabled.

autoplay gpedit enable settings

If you want to completely disable the AutoPlay for all types of devices for default, change select the value Enabled under Turn off Autoplay.

disable autoplay gpedit settings

[How To] Enable Automatic Updates In Windows 7

April 30, 2010April 30, 2010 by bharath

Windows logo

This is a small tutorial dealing on how to enable or disable automatic updates in Windows 7 or Windows Vista.This is basically intended for beginners who have just installed Windows 7 or Windows Vista in their systems and looking for assistance.

User level: Beginner

Complexity Level: Easy

1. Go to Start menu and type windows update in the search box.Click the Windows Update program in the search result.

windows update start menu search

2. Now the Windows Update window will be opened.On the left pane, find “Change Settings” and click on it to open the Windows Update Settings page.

3. In the Windows Update Settings window, as you can see there are basically 4 options to choose from.

#1 Install updates automatically (recommended)
#2 Download updates but let me choose whether to install them
#3 Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them
#4 Never check for updates (not recommended)

It is always recommended that you choose the option #1 “Install updates automatically” to install updates that address various vulnerabilities and keep your Windows up-to-date.

Option #2 is also OK, given that it makes your Windows to download the updates automatically as and when they are available but will install them without your permission.

Options #3 and #4 are recommended only if you are using an interconnection with limited data usage (like using mobile phone to connect to internet).If these options are chosen, your Windows will not automatically download or install the updates.

Find The Last ShutDown Time Of Any Windows PC

April 29, 2010 by bharath

At times may be you allow somebody, take for instance your kid to use your computer but strictly warned him or her to shut it down by midnight.But you don’t really know till what time they had used your PC as you can’t figure it out easily by just looking at your desktop Smile .

Luckily you need not worry much, if your system runs Windows.If you want to know how to do that in your PC, follow the steps briefed below:

1. Open Event Viewer in your computer:

Windows 7 ot Vists users: Go to start menu and type “Event Viewer” in the search box and open the Event Viewer.

Windows XP users: Go to run command from Start> Run or by pressing Windows+R and type eventvwr.msc in the field and hit enter.

event viewer from start menu

2. In the Event Viewer, On the left side pane click on “Windows Logs” and in the right pane, click on the item “System” [See the screenshot below].

3. Now on the right pane, you will find all the system logs information basically divided into 3 tabs: Information,

Date and Time,

Source,

Event ID

Find the column corresponding to the Event ID 6006, the date and time displayed in this column is when your computer was last shuttedDown.

In the above screenshot, the time shown is 29-04-2010 12:42:00 AM, so this is the last shutdown time of the PC used here.

Enable Pin To Start Menu For Folders In Windows

April 28, 2010April 28, 2010 by bharath

Pinning items to the start menu is one great way for accessing them more quickly.By default Windows allows only programs to be pinned to the start menu.If you want to add folder to the start menu, follow this simple tutorial which will add “Pin to start menu” context menu option for folders.You can also pin any library to the start menu using this method.

Steps:

1. Open run command by pressing Windows button + R.Type regedit in the filed and click ok.

2. In the Registry editor (regedit), go to the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

3. Right on the right pane and select New> Key (refer to the screenshot below)

4. Copy and paste {a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8} as the new key name like we did it in the following screenshot.

5. You are done with the tweak now.Press “SHIFT” key and right-click on any folder, you’ll see a new context menu option “Pin to Start Menu”

if you want to rollback and undo this new change just delete the key that you have just added {a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8}, which will remove the Pin to Start Menu context menu option from the folders.

If you want to automate the above whole process, just download the following reg entry file (.reg), and double click it, the corresponding registry entry will be automatically added.

Download

Note:

1. You can drag any folder to the start menu, hold it until you see “Pin to start menu” and then drop it.This will automatically pin that particular folder to the start menu.

2. The folders pinned to the start menu by this method will not expand if you hover the mouse over it.You need to pin them to the taskbar instead to see the expansion of the folders.

How To Create A System Repair Disc In Windows 7 & Vista

April 26, 2010 by bharath

Windows logo

Creating a System Repair disc in windows vista and Windows 7 is very simple and straight forward process.System repair disc would be very much useful when in situations like your Windows encounters a serious problem and unable to start properly.

A system repair disc can be used to boot your computer.It also contains Windows system recovery tools that can help you recover Windows from a serious error or restore your computer from a system image

Let’s see how to create a Windows System repair disc in simple steps.

Steps:

1. Go to Control panel> System And Security> Backup and Restore, click “Create a system repair disc”

backup or restore

2. Now it’ll ask you to select the CD/DVD drive and insert the blank CD into it. Select the drive and click “Create disc’ once you have inserted the blank disc into the drive.

create system repair disc

3. Let the DVD/CD (we need a DVD for Windows 7 backup) burn.

4. Now you have successfully created a system repair disc.

Using the system repair disc:

1. Insert the system repair disc into your CD/DVD drive.

2. Restart the computer

3. Windows will automatically discover the system recovery disc.You will be prompted “press any key to start the computer from the system repair disc”

4. If your computer primary boot device isn’t set to “CD/DVD" drive”, go to BIOS settings and change the boot order to configure your computer to start from a CD or DVD.

5. Choose your language settings and click “Next”.

6. Select a recovery option from the following:

# Startup Repaid

# System Restore

# System Image Recovery

# Windows Memory Diagnostic

# Command Prompt

System_recovery _options

You may also refer to our earlier Windows 7 guides like Install Windows 7 using Microsoft USB/DVD tool, Install Windows 7 using bootable USB

You can also our exclusive posts about Windows 7