How do I reset the context menus?

SJMaye · 09 Feb 2023

I find my context menus have become cluttered over the years. I have tried different programs to modify them by switching items on and off, but I didn't find any programs that worked that well or that I fully understood. Trying these different programs I made changes, but did not change them back. I would like to reset the context menus and find a more intuitive way to customize them for my use. Can someone help?

spunk · 09 Feb 2023

You might try ShellEx View

SJMaye · 09 Feb 2023

Hi Spunk,

Thanks for the tip. Can ShellX restore the context menus to be what they were before I tweaked on them? I want to do that before customizing them.

dalchina · 09 Feb 2023

No- if you look at it, it can enable, disable context menus.

I don't know of any way to restore context menus to a default 'nothing installed' status- many programs you install add context menus.

Simply disabling the ones you don't want will give your menu a cleaner look. Many tools can do that.

Ccleaner allows you to delete context menu entries manually. There are few tools that do. Another is Glary Utilities:

N.B. none of these tools reliably list all context menu entries (shell extensions)- this is a little complicated in the registry, so registry editing is not the preferred way to address this.

Autoruns (free from MS) lists all context menu entries (shell extensions) in groups- as well as a load of other startups. It allows you to disable or delete them.

How do I reset the context menus?-untitled.png

SJMaye · 09 Feb 2023

OK. I cannot reset. Just wanted to know. I will try the software recommendations and see what I can do. Thank you for the help.

dalchina · 09 Feb 2023

The only way to 'reset' would be to reset Windows - removing all installed programs at the same time (tutorial available).

SJMaye · 09 Feb 2023

dalchina said:

The only way to 'reset' would be to reset Windows - removing all installed programs at the same time (tutorial available).

Understood. Thank you.