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shellNewSettings: remove Explorer new menu items

ShellNewSettings is a free program for Microsoft Windows devices that allows you to remove items from the new menu of Explorer.

The new menu of Windows Explorer may grow considerably over time. Microsoft ships the menu with a couple of entries already, for instance to create a new folder or plain text file. Third-party programs may add their own new handlers to the menu.

While you may find some of those useful, others may sit idly in the menu for years without being used once in that time.

Since you may end up with several dozen entries in the menu, finding the new items that you want may be slowed down.

shellNewSettings

shellnew

Lots of programs assist you in removing unwanted entries from the Explorer new menu.There is for instance ShellMenuNew by Nirsoft which gives you full control over the items listed under new in Explorer.

You can remove entries manually using the Windows Registry as well, but using third-party tools is more comfortable and easier.

ShellNewSettings is a tiny 20 Kilobyte application that you may use to remove new entries from Windows Explorer. It is not as sophisticated as Nirsoft's program, as you cannot use it to add or modify entries.

It may be an option if you need a quick program to remove items from the Explorer context menu and don't need any additional functionality.

Please note that it does require the Microsoft .Net Framework 4 or higher to run.

The program lists all new items in the interface on start. Remove the checkmark next to the item's box to hide it from the new menu.

new menu

The change takes effect right away. It is best to test the change right away by opening an Explorer window to display the new menu with a right-click and the selection of new from it.

Note that the program keeps those options. This is useful if you want to display a previously hidden item again in the new menu.

The only other option is a refresh button. It is useful if you made changes elsewhere, e.g. a software installation or Registry edit while shellNewSettings was open. This loads the data again from the Registry so that you get the most recent new items displayed there.

Closing Words

ShellNewSettings is a simple program that is good for the occasional use. I do prefer Nirsoft's program, as it offers all the functionality of ShellNewSettings, and extra functionality. Nirsoft's program is fully portable on top of that, and just a couple of Kilobytes larger.

Still, if you want a simpler tool that gets the hiding job done as well, ShellNewSettings may be a viable option for that.

Now You: Do you manage your Explorer context menus to optimize them?

 

This article was first seen on ComTek's "TekBits" Technology News

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