Shortcut menus

A shortcut menu (also called a right-click menu or context menu) is a context-sensitive menu that appears when you right-click an item (Figure 1.19). Windows provides shortcut menus for nearly all interface elements: icons, files, folders, disks, desktop, taskbar, Start button, Start-menu items, Recycle Bin, and so on. Shortcut menus are among the most useful features in Windows. Try right-clicking any item to see whether a shortcut menu pops up.

Tips

• Shortcut-menu commands apply only to the item (or group of items) to which you point.
• Programs provide their own custom shortcut menus. Right-click a link in Internet Explorer, selected text in Notepad or Microsoft Word, or an image in Adobe Photoshop, for example.
• Right-clicking a taskbar button or a title bar displays the control menu (sizing menu) for that program's window. See "Windows" later in this chapter.

Figure 1.19 The right mouse button's shortcut menus offer common commands quickly. Here are shortcut menus for a Microsoft Excel file in Explorer, the Recycle Bin, and selected text in Notepad. Figure 1.15 shows the Computer shortcut menu.

Uninvited Shortcut-Menu Entries Utilities, shareware, and other programs often add their own entries to shortcut menus with or without your permission. If a shortcut menu gets too crowded, you usually can remove items via the programs' Options or Preferences dialog boxes; look for options labeled context menu.WinZip, for example, adds commands (such as Add to Zip) to Explorer's shortcut menus. WinZip's Option > Configuration > Explorer Enhancements tab lets you show or hide these commands. If no context-menu option is available, you can edit the registry (see "Editing the Registry" in Chapter 20). Many context-menu commands are in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell. Double-click shell to reveal the keys corresponding to each menu command. (You won't see and can't remove Windows' built-in commands.) Delete the keys that you don't want. In some cases, the keys are hidden elsewhere in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and you'll have to hunt for the program's key (sometimes tricky-Adobe.Acrobat. ContextMenu, for example) or choose Edit > Find to find the menu-item text (Scan for Viruses or whatever). For instructions, see the software publisher's website or search the web by using the terms context menu, registry, and the name of the program. Sometimes no keys are available, and you must live with the custom menu item. Back up your registry before you edit it.

To choose a shortcut-menu command:

1. Right-click an item. The shortcut menu appears, displaying its commands.

2. Point to the desired menu command.

3. Click to choose the command. The menu disappears.

To choose a shortcut-menu command by using the keyboard:

1. Select (highlight) an item.
2. Press the Application key (or press Shift+ F10).
3. Press the underlined letter of a menu command.
or
Use the arrow keys to navigate to a command;
then press Enter.

Tips

• Some shortcut menus have a default command in boldface; you can press Enter to choose this command.
• To close a shortcut menu without choosing a command, press Esc or left-click outside the menu. (Right-clicking outside the menu only makes the menu jump to the pointer.)
• If multiple icons are selected, right-click any one of them to open the shortcut menu for the group.