Double items in right click menu

I recently noticed some double items in the right click menu, but only when I right click a shortcut icon. This may have happened when I reinstalled Norton SystemWorks. It's not causing a problem...just an annoyance to see it. I did some research and found the following registry hack, but didn't find any doubles in the mentioned keys. How else can I delete them? Thanks.

A lot of programs you install will add themselves to the right-click menu of your files and/or folders. And most times, you have no choice in the matter and, as a result, your right-click menu can get very long with added items you don't even use.

Deleting the following program entries in the registry entry below will remove entries when you right-click on files only, to remove entries when you right-click on folders and/or drives look further down in this post.

1) Go to Start -> Run -> type regedit and navigate here: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers (note the asterisk "* ")

2) Click the the + sign next to the ContextMenuHandlers key, to expand it.
Now you will see some of the programs that have added items to your right-click menu. Simply delete the program keys you don't want, exit the Registry and refresh.
(If you don't want to delete the entries -> simply double click the default value for the program on the right hand pane and rename the clsid value by placing a period or dash in front of it.)

To remove entries from right-click menu on folders and/or drives navigate here HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers for folders -or- here HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers for drives, and follow the same procedure as you did with files.

**To add items to the right-click menu of files/folders do the following**

For this I'll use Notepad as an example of an item you'd like to add to the right click menu of all your files or folders.

For folders
1) Go to this key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder

2) Click the + sign next to Folder and expand it so that the Shell key is visible. Right click the Shell key and choose New -> Key and name the key Notepad or whatever else you'd prefer (whatever the key is named is what will appear in the right-click menu).

3) Now right-click the new key you made and create another key named Command. Then, in the right hand pane, double click "Default" and enter Notepad.exe as the value.

4) Exit the registry, refresh, and right click any folder. Notepad should now be on the context menu.

For files
1) Go here HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*

2) Expand the * key and see if a Shell key exists. If it does exist, follow the same procedure as for folders. If it does not exist, you'll have to create a new Shell first. Just right-click the * key and choose New -> Key and name it Shell. Then right-click the Shell key and continue on the same way you did for adding items to the right-click menu of folders.

3) Once done, Notepad should appear as an option in the right click menu of all your files.

 

If this happens only on a shortcut, where the shortcut's file extension is LNK (example, shortcut for Winzip is Winzip.Lnk), you need to look here.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
Export the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile Key as a REG file for a backup. Be careful and good luck.

Each file extension can have it's own Context Menu entries, note a ZIP file has the Winzip added to it's Context Menu.

 

markp62, thanks for your reply. I searched the registry and found only these entries for lnk: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}.

 

The left side of Regedit lists the Keys, the right side lists the Values.
On mine, at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}, the Default Value is blank, and there are no other Values listed there.
I am sort of nervous trying to give out specific instructions, as this part of the registry can have serious repercussions throughout the system, as the large numbers are CLSID's, and these will point to other CLSID's and some of these will call up what is called InprocServer32, which could be a program or a Link Library (DLL file), or CopyHookHandlers, etc.
Go get RegCleaner, the download link is at the bottom. After installing, click on the Shell Extensions button, and look for duplicates there.

 

My registry key is the same as yours, the Default Value is blank.
I ran RegCleaner and found no duplicates under Shell Extentions, but I did find this suspicious:
Extension: All Files
Command: Shellex
Program: (none listed)
Advanced Info shows no registry key.

 

It may be suspicious, but I have it, and I have no duplicate Context Menu Entries.
I did find these little proggies. I have not tried them.
http://www.shareup.com/dadioh/context-menu-editor.html
http://www.firegraphic.com/download/

 

Thanks markp62. I ran the context menu editor you suggested. It's a handy little program, but I still couldn't find the cause of my problem. I'll continue to look, but I may just have to live with it. I'll post back if I find a solution.

 

RichC--More ideas
http://www.jfitz.com/tips/rclick_custom.html
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=cnxtedit.zip
PCMagazine used to have a program named Context Editor (cnxtedit.exe or .zip),
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,22746,00.asp
but it no longer seems available--perhaps it is not suitable for WinXP. The sites offered by Google may be links to the old PCMag program.
http://www.hace.us-inc.com/ (scoll to the right)
http://www.subvers.com/technobabble/html/tweaks/context-menus.htm

 

Thanks Welshjim. The context menu editor that markp62 recommended is the same program as the one on the PCMag site (cnxtedit.zip). I couldn't download it from PCMag, but found it here. I checked out the sites you suggested and though very informative, I haven't found the damned duplicates.

 

What ARE the duplicates, though, and what section of the right-click context menu are they in?

 

This is my menu when a shortcut icon is right clicked:

Open
Quick View
Zip-It Add...
Zip-It In Place...
Show Revisions
<separator>
Scan with Norton Antivirus
<separator>
Zip-It Add...
Zip-It In Place...
Show Revisions
<separator>
Scan with Norton Antivirus
<separator>
Send To
<separator>
Cut
Copy
<separator>
Create Shortcut
Delete
Rename
<separator>
Properties

 

Have you used any type of tweaking program other than TweakUI to remove the arrows from shortcuts? If not have you removed them by deleting the IsShortcut entries in the registry? Either one of these can cause this problem. A lot of the tweaking programs get rid of the arrows by removing the IsShortcut entries. It seems that on some computers this causes double entries in the right click context menus. If you've used a tweaking program to do this try using it to turn the arrows back on and see if they go away. If you've deleted them yourself, copy and past the following lines into notepad and save the file with a .reg extension and then double click the file to enter it into the registry.


REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile]
@= "Shortcut "
"EditFlags "=hex:01,00,00,00
"IsShortcut "=" "
"NeverShowExt "=" "


If this works, the downside is, you'll have the shortcut arrows back. To get rid of them use TweakUI instead. It removes them in a different way. If removing them with TweakUi doesn't work it's do to a windows update which can be worked around too but I'll wait on that one to see what happens here.

 

Thanks Zander, you found the culprit. I did use a registry hack to remove the shortcut arrows after the Windows update prevented TweakUI's ability to do so: I renamed the IsShortcut entries to IsShortcutOld, which removed the arrows. The strange thing is, I believe this update (and my hack) was about two years ago, and my menu problem happened just recently. Anyway, I renamed them back to IsShortcut, rebooted and the arrows were back but the double menu entries were gone. I had a different hex value for EditFlags (0x00000001 (1)) so I left it as is. I would appreciate your work around to remove the arrows again.

 

Well, there's two ways I know of. I've used both and they both work. The easiest way is to use SFC to extract a copy of the shell32.dll from your win98 cd. If you do this it goes in the windows\system folder. The only problem with this is you'll undo the security update. It's my understanding that it's a low risk thing but...... You'll have to be the judge as to whether you want to do this or not.

The other (and safer) way would be to edit the icon in your current shell32.dll. You can download a trial copy of Microangelo to do this. If you install it, open the librarian applet (should be a shortcut to it in your start menu) and then, using the librarian, open the shell32.dll (I'd make a backup of the file first). I can't remember what number the icon is but 30 seems to ring a bell. You'll know it when you see it. It looks just like the arrows you see on the shortcuts. Double click on it to open it in the icon editor and then select the transparency color in the color pallet. Then it's just a matter of coloring in the arrow with the transparency color.

You can't replace the file while windows is running though so you'll have save the file somewhere else and then boot to a dos prompt and copy it to the windows\system folder from there. Are you at all familiar with dos?

The advantage of doing this is you won't break the security update. You'll have to decide which method to use or maybe you just want to put up with the arrows. I personally don't like them and it's one of those things that I always get rid of (one way or another ).

 

Zander--TweakUI/shortcut arrows. Wow, that was long ago. Good memory. Glad it helped RichC.

 

Thanks again Zander. If anything, I'll try the shell32.dll edit, but for now the arrows are less annoying to me than the double menu entries. This was a learning experience...thanks for everyone's help in solving the problem.

 

Merge the following into the registry - it will always remove
the double entries on the context menu of a .lnk file.
At least on this box Copy only the text between start
and finish to a text editor and save somewhere as linkfix.reg
Then right click this file and choose Merge.

----------------------------------------------------------------------- start
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk]
@= "lnkfile "

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellNew]
"Command "= "RunDLL32 AppWiz.Cpl,NewLinkHere %2 "

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@= "{500202A0-731E-11d0-B829-00C04FD706EC} "

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile]
@= "Shortcut "
"EditFlags "=hex:01,00,00,00
"IsShortcut "=" "
"NeverShowExt "=" "

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\CLSID]
@= "{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} "

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\IconHandler]
@= "{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} "

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\DropHandler]
@= "{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} "

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@=" "

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\TargetContext]
@= "{90A756E0-AFCF-11CE-927B-0800095AE340} "

------------------------------------------------------------------------- end
If you do not want the overlaid standard icon, use eg
(free) Wassociate to assign any icon on the system.
I find TWEAKUI does not make a good job of changing the
standard .lnk icon as you get the doubled context menu items again.
regards

 

ContextEdit is still available for free. And it works very well in XP.

ftp://ftp.sac.sk/pub/sac/utilfile/cnxtedit.zip

It was linked above by RichC.

 

Abraxas
I wonder if a program like this would help in this situation. The few times I've run into this, it's always been caused by the IsShortcut thing. I've never tried to use something like this to fix it but I have to wonder if removing one of the context menu items (using this program) will result in both of them being removed. I've downloaded the program and if I ever run into this again I'll give it a try. But; I have my doubts.

Maybe I'll fire up an old box again and remove the IsShortcut entries and see what happens using this program. Problem is, I've done this in the past and don't remember ever getting the double context menu entries from it (in my own puters anyway). It did however cause other problems (though minor) which took me a long time to track down. One of them that I can remember was that it broke any keyboard shortcuts I had made for any of my desktop or start menu shortcuts. I had to re-do them each time I started Windows. They'd work then, until the next time I rebooted. Then, I'd have to re-do them all again. For anybody that wants to get rid of the arrows, I'd never recommend to do it this way, nor would I recommend a program that uses this method to accomplish it.

 

I have my doubts, too. I didn't really expect that ContextEdit would find duplicates and it would just be as easy as removing one of them.

But it is a very useful program that I wanted to link for people since it is no longer free, usually. It was not easy to find since the name of the file should be cntxedit.zip and someone misspelled it cnxtedit.zip

It is getting so that I always search for common misspellings. It's surprizing what you can find that way.