How do you clean up the Open With right-click context menu?

[CorneliusM]

I've looked at a few posts here and, I googled this but haven't found exactly what I'm looking for.
My Right-click Open With Context menu is full of choices I either never made nor see any point in being there: "Open [avi/flv/jpg] with Google Chrome" or a program that cannot open videos is taking up the list and I'm sick of watching what I'm clicking on and double-checking what I'm clicking. I saw a registry edit for how to combat this which got rid of some items though, there are numerous others and the method in which to reorder the wanted selections have not worked at all.
I don't mind going into the registry (again) if I have to but, I really want to get rid of the either unnecessary and, the ridiculous entries listed on the OpenWith menu!
Thanks in advance!

 

[derekimo]

This little tool is pretty good for that,

Context Menu Editor v1.1 by ~binarybuddy on deviantART

 

[Bill2]

ShellMenuView for windows items.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_menu_view.html

Or ShellExView for 3rd party programs.

ShellExView - Shell Extension Manager For Windows

 

[CorneliusM]

Thanks guys, none of those managed to give me the option for the Open With context just gave me the default open with option to remove/change

 

[DarkStar GT]

If you're feeling brave, have a look at my reply #8:
http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/89895-q-assigninig-icons-file-types.html#post815904

-- make a System Restore Point first
-- export any Registry keys before you change them
-- look for an equivalent key where you don't have any problems and use that as a reference

 

[DMHolt57]

...does this help?

Adding "Open With" Menu Command​

The Open With context menu is only available when you Shift+right-click a file. But there is a way to add this option automatically to the menu every time you right-click a file. Launch the registry editor and go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\openas\command\. This subkey is actually the action to open the "Open With" box for "unknown" files when windows can't find the suitable application to open a file with.
To add this action to every file, we must copy out the value of the Default string on the right pane. Press Ctrl+C or right-click and select Copy.
Now go back to the top of the list and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*. Right-click on it and choose New Key. Name this subkey shell. Right-click on shell key and add a new subkey named openas. Right-click this key and add a new subkey named command. Now double-click the default string value in the right-hand pane. A dialog box will pop up. Press Ctrl-V to paste the complicated command line you copied earlier. Click OK.

 

[derekimo]

So are you trying to remove stuff from the open with context menu?

see if this tutorial helps,

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/96077-open-clean-up-remove-programs.htmlhttp://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52833-open-context-menu-item-add-remove.html?filter

 

[CorneliusM]

I dunno what's wrong but, either the choices I want to remove aren't in the OpenWithLists or, removing them doesn't change anything at all

Thanks again guys!

 

[SIW2]

What are the entries you want to remove?

 

[CorneliusM]

What are the entries you want to remove?

Well for jpgs and avis and some other file types, it has internet explorer and google chrome as an option even though I've never ever used them to open anything! Then there's Ifranview which shows up on every Open With option of previously used programs which I only use to open gif files.
I've looked in the appropriate registry locations and removed them but, they still show up on the drop down Open With list.

 

[SIW2]

Did you try Nir's openwithview

It gives the option to disable them .

It also gives you the reg entries - so you can find them from that if you want to manually remove.

 

[CorneliusM]

Did you try Nir's openwithview

It gives the option to disable them .

It also gives you the reg entries - so you can find them from that if you want to manually remove.

Hey man, cheers but it hasn't prevented the programs from showing up at all! I dunno whether its because I got the UAC on or not, usually run programs as Administrator with no problems so I'm expecting Windows 7 has some backup or it could be the MRU_List in the registry I dunno

 

[Bill2]

This can also be a file association or plugin issue. As for opening avi files in Chrome etc., look at this page for ideas.

Stop playing media files within browser - Google Chrome Help

Another thing, many apps give you the option to tweak shell integration. E.g. in winrar, I can decide exactly what context menu options are available via the program window itself. Explore such options for the apps you use.

See these pages for ways to finger the context menu.

Edit Context Menu Items In Windows 7 & Vista

How to Clean Up Your Messy Windows Context Menu - How-To Geek

 

[Fathther Jack]

Just a thought.
Are you running 64-bit? Some of these registry keys get duplicated in the Wow6432Node. Sometimes you have to change the entries in the Wow6432Node as well, sometimes they change themselves when you modify the "regular" registry keys.

 

[CorneliusM]

This can also be a file association or plugin issue. As for opening avi files in Chrome etc., look at this page for ideas.

Stop playing media files within browser - Google Chrome Help

Another thing, many apps give you the option to tweak shell integration. E.g. in winrar, I can decide exactly what context menu options are available via the program window itself. Explore such options for the apps you use.

See these pages for ways to finger the context menu.

Edit Context Menu Items In Windows 7 & Vista

How to Clean Up Your Messy Windows Context Menu - How-To Geek

Cheers for those links I'll give them a try, InfraView was annoying to get rid of through the registry as it constantly kept showing up in the list but, now its gone and I had a FLV Player problem where Open with>Flv Player.exe would play a .flv file with VLC instead but got that sorted

 

[CorneliusM]

Just a thought.
Are you running 64-bit? Some of these registry keys get duplicated in the Wow6432Node. Sometimes you have to change the entries in the Wow6432Node as well, sometimes they change themselves when you modify the "regular" registry keys.

Oh I'm running 32 bit on my laptop but, I think the registry is doing that anyway somehow as I've deleted entries and, when I restart the laptop every entry is the same as it was before I changed them!

 

[DarkStar GT]

Which keys are you deleting and which ones remain?

Some keys are copies of others, you may just be deleting the copies. Next time you log in / reboot the copies are recreated from the "masters".

Can you post full details of one example. In regedit, Export all the "Shell / Open" keys for a specific program. Edit the exported files using Notepad and and copy and post the key data here?

Tip:
Whenever I Export keys from the Registry, I always rename the exported file to a .txt file straight away (keeping the .reg part of the name). That way if I double-click it it opens in Notepad rather than is applied to the Registry. Seems much safer to me.

 

[SIW2]

Not a bad idea Darkstar. You can always change open context menu item to open .reg files with notepad instead of regedit.

Use the merge option to merge, obviously.

 

[CorneliusM]

Which keys are you deleting and which ones remain?

Some keys are copies of others, you may just be deleting the copies. Next time you log in / reboot the copies are recreated from the "masters".

Can you post full details of one example. In regedit, Export all the "Shell / Open" keys for a specific program. Edit the exported files using Notepad and and copy and post the key data here?

Tip:
Whenever I Export keys from the Registry, I always rename the exported file to a .txt file straight away (keeping the .reg part of the name). That way if I double-click it it opens in Notepad rather than is applied to the Registry. Seems much safer to me.

Well I kind of missed out the Class roots part so now everything seems to be sorted out, Windows Movie Maker and Live Photo Viewer can't seem to be found and their still on all options of Open With when it comes to video files :s