Customizing Shortcut Menus by Editing the Registry In Microsoft Windows XP

By working directly in the registry, instead of using the Folder Options dialog box, you can do the following:

• Make per-user shortcut-menu modifications (changes made through the Folder Options dialog box are per-computer).

• Add commands to the extended shortcut menu (the menu that appears when you hold down Shift while right-clicking an object).

• Specify command strings that include environment variables, such as %ProgramFiles%.

• Add commands to the shortcut menus of all members of a “perceived” file type (a super category, such as Image, that encompasses files with a variety of extensions, such as .bmp, .gif, .ico, .jpe, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, and .tiff).

• Customize the shortcut menus of unregistered file types.

• Create shortcut menu commands that apply to all file types.

• Customize the shortcut menus of system objects, such as My Computer or Recycle Bin.

• Remove or edit a shortcut menu command when the Remove and Edit buttons are unavailable in the Folder Options dialog box.

Of course, if you simply prefer working in the registry to working through dialog boxes, you can create ordinary shortcut menu customizations for registered file types this way as well.