Windows shell-extension manager?

Question

Is there a tool to remove a shell-extension? I was able to remove some context-menus using RegEdit but doing a search in the registry for others have failed.

Solution

A great tool that makes removing (or just disabling) shell-extensions easier is ShellExView. Use the mark options and sort on the various columns to help quickly cut through the clutter.

As well, Autoruns displays shell-extensions in the Explorer tab. Again, use the hide options to reduce false-positives.

If you are specifically trying to get rid of a context-menu, it may not actually be a shell-extensions; in which case, try ShellMenuView which makes it easy to manage such items.

Comments

[Tony_Henrich]

These tools seem to be ones I should be able to use but they are still not finding the menu entries I want to remove. I wonder if these menu entries are "injected" when Windows runs instead of being read from repositories like the registry?

[Synetech]

It may not be a shell-extensions. I added another tool for that case. If that doesn't help, then you may want to give some information on the specific context-menus you are trying to get rid of.

[Tony_Henrich]

I have several. One is Catalyst Control Center which was installed by the gfx card. Another is 'Compress and email' from WinRar.

[Synetech]

The CCC should be in Autoruns, just search for ATI in the Explorer tab, then uncheck the two or three entries. Do the same for WinRAR (or just unselect the option inside WinRAR*).

[Richard Hardy]

Updated link to Autoruns: Autoruns for Windows v14.06. Autoruns did the job quite well for me just minutes ago. (It is too early to conclude anything about potential unintended consequences, though.)