Putting commands in context

When you right-click on a folders in Windows, a menu pops up giving you several options, such as Open, Explore and Find. But you can add almost any other command you like to this context menu.

To do this you need to edit Windows’ Registry. (If you are unfamiliar with the Registry, be sure to check the instructions and precautions at http://www.WE-Compute.com/registry.html.)

In the Registry, make your way to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell. Right click on the shell key and select New and Key from the brief menu that appears. Name the new key whatever you want the new command to be. For example, if we want to be able to launch Microsoft Word from folder context menus, we might enter Word as the key name. Then right-click on the new key (Word in our example) and again select New and Key. This new key should be named Command. Click once on the new Command key and in the pane on the right double-click on (Default).

In the Edit String dialogue box, enter the path to the file as the Value Data. In our case, the path would be C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe, but you can make a path to any other program, file or shortcut on your system.

Click on OK, close up the Registry Editor and press F5 to refresh the Registry. Right-click on any folder on the desktop or in Explorer and your new option will be available.

Free *Cheap Trick* of the Week: August 14, 2000