Customize Explorer Context

very good
key review info
application features
  • Split File
  • (11 more, see all...)

Installing a myriad of applications a day will undoubtedly leave a lot of shell menu leftovers, making it more difficult for you to distinguish among the shortcuts you really need and which are fully active. No question that having context menu handlers in Windows Explorer will increase your performance and you will no longer waste time with looking for the launcher of an application.

I'd rather keep my desktop screen as clean as possible, avoiding crowding it with a ton of shortcuts, difficult to keep a good tab on. In order to optimize my work and not waste time searching for this or that application I take full advantage of my multimedia keyboard, as well as context menus and Total Commander (by placing application shortcuts in its toolbar). To complete desktop liberation and not to crowd other places, the use of an application launcher is an absolute must. With a simple combination of keys I get to launch a myriad of programs or just open a group and select what I need.

Here comes another tool designed to free up your desktop and bring application launching closer to you right click mouse button. FileMenu Tools is not specially designed for this type of activity but it can successfully be employed this way. Its purpose is to customize Windows Explorer's context menu to suit your needs.

Thus you can tune up Windows Explorer's menu over My Computer or Desktop. You can remove those menus you find useless and add some of your own shortcuts. FileMenu Tools comes with a set of preset options designed to bring more functionality to the menu.

The interface is nice and simple, user friendly and intuitive. It is split into three distinct sections: Tasks panel located in the left part of application window, toolbar and commands view. The side panel is fully resizable and can be docked to the side, should the user find it inconvenient. It is composed of Tasks view and Properties pane.

The tasks available in the application are actually the options and allow adding a new command, submenu and separator. Also you can use "Move Up" and "Move Down" functions to bring the command to the desired location in the menu.

As I mentioned before, FileMenu Tools comes with a list of preset commands. There are 24 of them, covering useful controls like Split File, Change Time, Move To, Synchronize, Find And Replace, Delete Locked File, Shift-Delete a file, Create a New Folder, open command line, run a certain file within specific parameters etc. Most of them are not commands a regular user would employ, but the best part is that this menu can be customized the way it suits you.

Adding a new command is not too difficult but there are several settings to be made for this to work. First of all, you must define the type of action (Run program, Copy to a Folder, Move to a Folder or Delete Specific Files). Next is giving a name to the command. If you want, you can also add a brief description so that you know exactly what it is designed for. Another step is defining the context menu it should be displayed on (file and/or folders) and if you choose files you should also add some extensions it'll affect, but only if the action is not running a program. In this case, move to program Propertis section and provide the path to the launcher of the application, provide arguments (insert command line parameters) and working folder.

It is not hard work and the included help file will provide all the necessary details regarding arguments and working folder. Actually, these are the most difficult settings in FileMenu Tools. All the rest is customization.

Explorer's "Send To" menu can also be tweaked to suit your needs. Accessing it from the application will display some of the shortcuts available. During our testing it detected Compressed (zipped) Folder, Mail Recipient, Dektop (create shortcut), Fax Recipient and Documents commands which are all Windows Vista natives. It will also detect the commands created by softwares you installed. FileMenu Tool allows full customization of this menu as well. You can disable system shortcuts and append your own by using Add Command option in side panel.

The interesting part is just beginning because FileMenu Tools comes with a third menu of shortcuts which are available in Windows Explorer after you install different softwares. This can be configured to be a little less crowded or to contain only the shortcuts you really need. Unfortunately, FileMenu Tools will not do a great job as during our testing it failed to eliminate some shortcuts.

Also, the downside is that some shell extensions are not named properly and it is a bit difficult to guess which shortcut pertains to what program. But, if you take a look in the left hand panel in Information section you will see that the software displays the path to the application the selected shortcut belongs to.

There is no doubt that the application is truly valuable, and if you add the fact that it is free, it is truly a feast. But it does not do a proper job. During our testing, it failed to disable all the shortcuts in the menu (on both Vista and Xp) but everything it added was present in the desired location.

The Good

FileMenu Tools is absolutely free and if you are looking for an easy way to bring applications closer to you, then this is the solution as it helps place them in Explorer's context menu, at a right click of the mouse.

Very easy to use, FileMenu Tools can be disabled and enabled at whim, from Options menu.

The Bad

It cannot deal with all the shortcuts and does not eliminate all of them from the context menu. Neither on Vista nor on XP.

The Truth

Customizing Explorer menu the way you want is like a dream come true. But in the case of FileMenu Tools there is a little more work to do in order to achieve that dream. You have to face it: the software is great, but unfortunately, it cannot deal with all the softwares that create context menus. Some of them are too stubborn for FileMenu Tools.

But it's definitely worth a shot, as it can increase your efficiency when working in the computer.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:

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user interface 4
features 4
ease of use 4
pricing / value 4


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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