How to Remove Right Click Windows Defender Scan in Windows 10

November Update for Windows 10 was released last week, and it brought a lot of good, but also some bad changes and additions. And one of the additions is the return of the ability to perform a quick Windows Defender scan of any file, from context menu, when you right-click on it.

There’s not much to explain about this addition, you simply right click on the folder, or more selected folders, you want to scan, and it will automatically run Windows Defender. This is a nice addition by Microsoft, though, because almost all bigger antivirus programs have a scan option from the context menu of a folder, and since Microsoft assures you that using Windows Defender is enough to keep your Windows 10 safe, this addition was indeed needed.

On the other hand, if you’re not a fan of Windows Defender, you may, for some reason, find this new part of the context menu annoying or unnecessary. It maybe makes the context menu bigger than it should be, or whichever it is. So if you don’t want this feature, there’s a way to remove it, with a simple registry tweak.

How to Remove Windows Defender Scan Option From The Context Menu

To remove Windows Defender scan from your context menu, do the following:

1. Go to Search, type regedit and open Registry Editor
2. Navigate to the following registry key:
   • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\
3. Right click on it, and select Delete

After deleting this registry key, Windows Defender scan option will disappear from the context menu. But, it won’t hurt if you create a backup of the registry, just in case if you want to bring it back, or something goes wrong.

How do you feel about the latest update for Windows 10? Do you think Microsoft did a good job with it, or not? Tell us your opinion in the comments, below.

How to Manually Edit the Right Click Menu in Windows

Third-party applications can make it ridiculously long

The last time I right-clicked on a file, I was annoyed by the fact that it took a full two seconds to load the context menu. Why? Well because I had installed so many different applications on my computer that a couple of them added themselves to my right-click context menu automatically!

Some programs ask you if you want the option added to your context menu while others do not. Now granted, I probably said yes a couple of times, thinking how useful it would be to have that in my right-click menu, but there are still many I never use!

If you’re looking for a way to remove applications from right click menu for files, folders and the desktop, you can do it yourself with a little bit of registry hacking. If you don’t want to bother with the registry, check out my previous post on freeware utilities to edit the right-click context menu.

First, take a look at my ridiculously long right click menu:

Now that is just way too long! There’s Dreamweaver, Notepad, anti-virus, Pinky basket, PKZIP, SmartFTP, and PowerISO! Whew! So how can we customize the menu to something more manageable?

First, make sure to back up your registry in case something gets messed up. Now open the registry editor by going to Start, then Run and then typing in REGEDIT.

Edit Right Click Menu for Files

There is a right-click menu for files and another for folders. To get to the one for files, head over to this registry key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\

You should now see a listing like this:

All the folders listed under ContextMenuHandlers are applications that show up when you right click on a file in Windows. You can either delete the folder to remove the option or simply disable the folder, which is better in case you want to bring it back later on.

You can disable an application by clicking on the folder in the left pane and then right-clicking on the key value in the right pane and choosing “Modify“.

All you need to do is add a minus sign without the parentheses (–) in front of the key value like shown below:

Click OK, then the refresh button at the top and then try right-clicking on the file! The program should now be gone from the context menu. If the minus sign option is not working, you can simply delete the entire key for that particular program by right-clicking and choosing Delete.

You may notice that there are extra items in your right-click context menu that are not showing up under this key. That’s because not all of the menu items are stored in one location. You may also find other menu items for programs stored at these locations:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFileSystemObjects\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers

Edit Right Click Menu for Folders

You can also follow the same steps as shown above for folders; it’s just a different registry path. In order to edit the menu options for right clicking on folders, go here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell

You’ll have to scroll quite a bit, but once you get there, it should look something like this:

Again, you can either delete the folders under ContextMenuHandlers or you can simply disable them by editing the key and putting a – in front of the value. Simple as that and works like a charm!

Edit Right Click Menu for Desktop

Yes, the desktop in Windows has a different location in the registry for its context menu. Luckily, it’s got the same structure as we have shown above, so you won’t have any trouble figuring out how to remove items.

Most programs never add anything to the desktop right-click menu, so it won’t be often that you’ll use this registry hack. The location for the desktop menu items is here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

If you have always wanted to get rid of that annoying Gadgets menu option from the desktop context menu, now you can!

You can also add any application to the desktop right-click menu pretty easily. Just right-click on the shell key and choose New – Key. Name the key whatever you want as that will appear in the context menu. In my example, I created a key called Paint.

Now right-click on the new key and again choose New – Key. This time name the key command. Now double-click on the Default value in the right-pane and paste in the path to your program. Here is what my registry entries look like:

You can immediately go to the desktop, right-click and you should see a new option for your program!

So those are the three different context menus in Windows and how you can edit them using the registry. If you have any questions or problems, post a comment. Enjoy!

Founder of Online Tech Tips and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. Read Aseem’s Full Bio

How to remove items from the right click (context) menu in Windows?

The right click (context) menu is minimal and clean on a fresh installation of Windows. Install a bunch of applications and soon the context menu is loaded with all kinds of opening options from various applications.

How do I remove items from the right click (context) menu?

I find that there are different types of right click menu items:

Global items that appear in all context menus.

Items that appear only on folders.

Items that appear only on files.

Items that appear only on special folders (Ex: Right clicking a folder of MP3s shows up a context menu with items like Play with Windows Media Player.)

Items that appear only on certain file types (Ex: Right clicking a MP3 file shows up a context menu with items from Windows Media Player/Foobar2000/VLC/your-favorite-media-player begging to open this file.)

I want to be able to delete all these kinds items from the right click (context) menu.

6 Answers 6

I’ve written a lengthy explanation of how to clean up a messy context menu, using either the registry editor:

If you want to clean things up the truly geeky way, you can open up regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to one of the following keys…

Most of the menu items that used for all files and folders can be found by looking at one of these keys:

Items that are specific to folders can usually be found in one of these keys instead:

Or use some freeware NirSoft tools like ShellMenuView or ShellExView.

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type in regedit and click ENTER
4. Browse to the following: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
5. You simply delete or export then delete the keys you do not want

There are several «kinds» of menu handlers, however, so you could browse to any of the following and perhaps find stuff you want to get rid of:

To add to the other answers, here are other software that can also edit the Context Menu:

Default Programs Editor — Its UI makes it easy to disable context menu of a specific file type.

MenuMaid — Its UI makes it easy to disable all context menu from a specific program.

Oops. Didn’t realize How-To-Geek had it covered. (Not used to the aero look & didn’t even realize it was ShellExView.)

How to Customize the Windows 10 Context Menu: Add, Remove Items and More

Right-click at Your Service

Most Read

Left unchecked, it won’t take long for the Windows context menu to become cluttered. Having too many items on the right click menus can be particularly annoying because you can’t use the mouse to scroll through, you have to click on the arrows at the top and bottom of the list, and we bet there’s at least one program on your context menus that you never use.

Conversely, managing the context menu to work in your advantage can be a rewarding tweak to your operating system, or at the very least getting rid of the useless things that third party apps might have added there.

Various tools have simplified the process of adding shortcuts to your frequently used software, utilities and visited destinations around Windows. Microsoft has already made it easy to access the different control panels and system management locations in Windows by right clicking the Start menu or hitting the Windows key + X on your keyboard, but there are plenty of useful items missing from the right click menus (right clicking on the desktop, on files and folders etc.).

For instance, we’ve looked at ways that you can remove the Recycle Bin from the Windows desktop, and put it elsewhere where it’s just as accessible and useful.

Although we didn’t cover any methods for putting it on any context menus at the time, adding a shortcut to empty the Recycle Bin when you right click your desktop would make it the most accessible without the icon actually being on your desktop.

Other ideas for what might be worth adding to the Windows context menu include:

• An admin-level command prompt
• The ability to take ownership of files and folders
• Shortcuts to restart/shutdown/suspend your system
• Useful software on specific menus such as SpaceSniffer when you right click on a hard drive
• Making it easier to reach Disk Cleanup or System Restore, etc. which are buried in more menus

Note that the «Computer Management» utility in Windows provides access to the operating system’s native disk manager, device manager, performance monitor, task scheduler, event viewer, services etc. all in one location.

You can launch Computer Management from the list that appears when you right click the Start menu, but would be worth adding elsewhere if you were considering a shortcut to one of those locations.

Also keep in mind that many of the context menu tools we tested would only run properly if we launched them as an administrator, which should be available as an option already on Windows when you right click an executable, though you can also click on a program while holding Control and Shift on your keyboard to open it with admin rights.

Adding & Removing Context Menu Items

If you’re looking to remove just one item, it might be best off going directly through the options provided by the software itself.

The next quickest route might be the utility built into CCleaner Portable (Tools > Startup > Context Menu tab), though that didn’t provide a complete list of software from our context menus during testing, it’s very serviceable, and we recommend this portable version of the app that only will do what you need and you can delete later.

Glary Utilities offers a similar level of functionality with a better interface, though it isn’t free forever.

Bonus

You can configure context menus to appear on the left or right side of where you click without any additional software. Open a Run prompt and enter shell. to launch Tablet PC Settings. Head to the «Other» tab for «handedness» settings.

More Tools Dedicated to the Task

Easy Context Menu

Straightforward interface, though not the most modern. Includes a range of unique menu options such as the ability to block keyboard/mouse input, restart Windows Explorer, copy your IP and the aforementioned empty Recycle Bin shortcut along with the more expected ones for Run, regedit, Services, Msconfig etc. which are distributed throughout three new sub-menus when you right click on the Windows 10 desktop.

There are also sections for editing the context menus of folders, files, exes, drives, and My Computer, support for creating custom menu options by clicking the «List Editor» button (pictured above), and in our testing the «ContextMenu Cleaner» (pictured below) built into this utility made it the easiest to remove unwanted context menu items.

It generates a complete list without clutter and it’s easy to enable or disable a given item. As mentioned earlier, we couldn’t find PDF Architect in CCleaner (or other tools) whereas they were readily available to disable in Easy Context Menu.

Before and after.

Filemenu Tools

Has the most options out of the software tested and a polished interface albeit a very input-heavy one that will probably only appeal to advanced users or anyone who is up for the learning curve.

Right Click Enhancer

Limited features in the free version, bulked out with irrelevant tools (SFV file verifier, file renamer, file extension manager), paid has fuller feature set for $9.99 (adding shortcuts, submenus, removing items. ). Had trouble preserving setting states, but so did Easy Context Menu at times.

Right-Click Extender v2

You can’t add your own custom items or remove items already on your context menus, but Right-Click Extender lets you add/remove the tools and options that are built-into the software, which largely include shortcuts to places around Windows. Provides built-in access for creating/restoring registry backups and system restore points.

Accomplishing Some of That From the Windows Registry

You can also add and remove items from context menus from the Windows Registry, though it isn’t as easy or reliable as using one of the recommended tools.

To get started, launch the Windows Registry Editor by hitting Windows key + R and entering regedit.

• Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell and Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex to find many application context menu entries and delete the ones you no longer want.

Note: We recommend making a backup of your registry before you begin (File > Export > Save the file). Click Import instead to restore the saved file.

You can add custom items to your desktop context menu from the registry as well, such as a shortcut launcher for a program.

Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\, and then.

• Right click on «shell» and go to New > Key — give it the name of the program you’re going to be launching.
• Right click that new entry and make another new key named «command»
• Right click the default value on the right and modify it, giving it the directory of your executable