Remove unwanted new Dropbox context menu entries?

First, can someone kindly check whether they already see the previous
version of this post please? The SENT folder of my newsgroup/email
program (Forte's Agent) indicates that I posted it yesterday morning.

Subject: Remove unwanted new Dropbox context menu entries?
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2020 09:53:37 +0100

But I see no such thread, and wonder if I've accidentally changed some
important setting.

--------------------

Any Dropbox users around?

My right click File Explorer context menu was already getting too long
so these recent changes in Dropbox has made it worse. Anyone found a
simple and safe way of culling all but 'Copy Dropbox link' please?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7zbpnc9ry...text.jpg?raw=1

--------------------

Subsequently I tried CCleaner, but like all the tools I've seen it does
not allow unambiguous identification:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zatkwt7o0c...t-CC.jpg?raw=1


Terry, UK

"Terry Pinnell" wrote


| First, can someone kindly check whether they already see the previous
| version of this post please?

Not there that I see.

| Any Dropbox users around?
|
| My right click File Explorer context menu was already getting too long
| so these recent changes in Dropbox has made it worse. Anyone found a
| simple and safe way of culling all but 'Copy Dropbox link' please?
|
| https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7zbpnc9ry...text.jpg?raw=1

What a mess. You might first check whether the program
settings allow you to remove those menu items. Few programs
have been so badly behaved since the 90s as to saddle you
with so much crap and not let you remove it.

That's likely to be under HKCR\*. It's not
a Dropbox thing. Assuming Win10 hasn't completely rewired
Explorer, what you see on the context menu follows a
system. The top section is under HKCR\*\Shell. you can
usually find the menu text there. Below that will be more
complicated items created by a shell extension, coming from
HKCR\*\ShellEx. Those usually have informative names.
If not then you have to look up the GUID value under
HKCR\CLSID. You can then find the source under something
like HKCR\CLSID\[GUID]\InProcServer32. It could also be
LocalServer32 or something similar. That depends, but all
such "server" keys point to the DLL or EXE that provides
the functionality.

Once you find what you don't want you can just delete it
to prevent it loading. If you're nervous about that then
export the key first, so that you can get it back if
necessary.

There's also another wrinkle here, but it sounds like it
won't apply in this case: HKCR\* applies to all files.
Specific file types are addressed accordingly. HKCR\.jpg,
HKCR\.doc, etc. Folders are under HKCR\folder or
HKCR\directory. But the basic structure is still the same.
It's still Shell and ShellEx. Shell contains subkeys,
with the Command key pointing to an executable.
ShellEx will point to the CLSIDs for shell extensions to
be loaded.

Terry Pinnell wrote:

My right click File Explorer context menu was already getting too long
so these recent changes in Dropbox has made it worse. Anyone found a
simple and safe way of culling all but 'Copy Dropbox link' please?

Poke about in the registry for something like

HKCR\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Dropbox

dump the relevant section of registry to a .reg file and try deleting
it, when your machine catches fire, restore the .reg file and don't
blame me :-)

Terry,

First, can someone kindly check whether they already
see the previous version of this post please?

freenews.netfront.net shows it (the one with the image), but neither
news.mixmin.net nor nntp.aioe.org do.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Terry Pinnell wrote:

can someone kindly check whether they already see the previous
version of this post please?

The previous posting from you to this group (that's visible on NIN) was
over 6 weeks ago

On Sun, 30 Aug 2020 11:53:01 +0100, Terry Pinnell
wrote:

First, can someone kindly check whether they already see the previous
version of this post please? The SENT folder of my newsgroup/email
program (Forte's Agent) indicates that I posted it yesterday morning.

Subject: Remove unwanted new Dropbox context menu entries?
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2020 09:53:37 +0100

But I see no such thread, and wonder if I've accidentally changed some
important setting.

Looks like it didn't propagate through Usenet very well, but it showed up
here on Newshosting, so you sent it successfully. Actual propagation beyond
your local Usenet server is out of your hands.

BTW, it makes sense that I'd see it on NH because your NSP, Easynews, is a
sister company to NH.

From: Terry Pinnell
Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-10
Subject: Remove unwanted new Dropbox context menu entries? -
DropbpxUnwantedContext.jpg
Message-ID:
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 4.2/32.1118
Lines: 1694
X-Complaints-To:
Organization: Forte - www.forteinc.com
Bytes: 106681
X-Complaints-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers
otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly.
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2020 09:53:37 +0100



--------------------

Any Dropbox users around?

My right click File Explorer context menu was already getting too long
so these recent changes in Dropbox has made it worse. Anyone found a
simple and safe way of culling all but 'Copy Dropbox link' please?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7zbpnc9ry...text.jpg?raw=1

--------------------

Subsequently I tried CCleaner, but like all the tools I've seen it does
not allow unambiguous identification:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zatkwt7o0c...t-CC.jpg?raw=1

I think Nirsoft has a tool to manage context menu entries, if you'd rather
not muck about in the Registry. www.nirsoft.net

Perhaps one of these...

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_menu_view.html
ShellMenuView is a small utility that displays the list of static menu
items that appeared in the context menu when you right-click a file/folder
on Windows Explorer, and allows you to easily disable unwanted menu items.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html
The ShellExView utility displays the details of shell extensions installed
on your computer, and allows you to easily disable and enable each shell
extension.
ShellExView can be used for solving context-menu problems in Explorer
environment.

"Mayayana" wrote:

"Terry Pinnell" wrote


| First, can someone kindly check whether they already see the previous
| version of this post please?

Not there that I see.

| Any Dropbox users around?
|
| My right click File Explorer context menu was already getting too long
| so these recent changes in Dropbox has made it worse. Anyone found a
| simple and safe way of culling all but 'Copy Dropbox link' please?
|
| https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7zbpnc9ry...text.jpg?raw=1

What a mess. You might first check whether the program
settings allow you to remove those menu items. Few programs
have been so badly behaved since the 90s as to saddle you
with so much crap and not let you remove it.

That's likely to be under HKCR\*. It's not
a Dropbox thing. Assuming Win10 hasn't completely rewired
Explorer, what you see on the context menu follows a
system. The top section is under HKCR\*\Shell. you can
usually find the menu text there. Below that will be more
complicated items created by a shell extension, coming from
HKCR\*\ShellEx. Those usually have informative names.
If not then you have to look up the GUID value under
HKCR\CLSID. You can then find the source under something
like HKCR\CLSID\[GUID]\InProcServer32. It could also be
LocalServer32 or something similar. That depends, but all
such "server" keys point to the DLL or EXE that provides
the functionality.

Once you find what you don't want you can just delete it
to prevent it loading. If you're nervous about that then
export the key first, so that you can get it back if
necessary.

There's also another wrinkle here, but it sounds like it
won't apply in this case: HKCR\* applies to all files.
Specific file types are addressed accordingly. HKCR\.jpg,
HKCR\.doc, etc. Folders are under HKCR\folder or
HKCR\directory. But the basic structure is still the same.
It's still Shell and ShellEx. Shell contains subkeys,
with the Command key pointing to an executable.
ShellEx will point to the CLSIDs for shell extensions to
be loaded.


Mayayana & Andy: Thanks both, I'll start working in the registry. The
reply I had from the Dropbox forum confirmed that there was no way to do
it from Dropbox itself.

Char Jackson wrote:

On Sun, 30 Aug 2020 11:53:01 +0100, Terry Pinnell
wrote:

First, can someone kindly check whether they already see the previous
version of this post please? The SENT folder of my newsgroup/email
program (Forte's Agent) indicates that I posted it yesterday morning.

Subject: Remove unwanted new Dropbox context menu entries?
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2020 09:53:37 +0100

But I see no such thread, and wonder if I've accidentally changed some
important setting.

Looks like it didn't propagate through Usenet very well, but it showed up
here on Newshosting, so you sent it successfully. Actual propagation beyond
your local Usenet server is out of your hands.

BTW, it makes sense that I'd see it on NH because your NSP, Easynews, is a
sister company to NH.

From: Terry Pinnell
Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-10
Subject: Remove unwanted new Dropbox context menu entries? -
DropbpxUnwantedContext.jpg
Message-ID:
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 4.2/32.1118
Lines: 1694
X-Complaints-To:
Organization: Forte - www.forteinc.com
Bytes: 106681
X-Complaints-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers
otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly.
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2020 09:53:37 +0100



--------------------

Any Dropbox users around?

My right click File Explorer context menu was already getting too long
so these recent changes in Dropbox has made it worse. Anyone found a
simple and safe way of culling all but 'Copy Dropbox link' please?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7zbpnc9ry...text.jpg?raw=1

--------------------

Subsequently I tried CCleaner, but like all the tools I've seen it does
not allow unambiguous identification:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zatkwt7o0c...t-CC.jpg?raw=1

I think Nirsoft has a tool to manage context menu entries, if you'd rather
not muck about in the Registry. www.nirsoft.net

Perhaps one of these...

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_menu_view.html
ShellMenuView is a small utility that displays the list of static menu
items that appeared in the context menu when you right-click a file/folder
on Windows Explorer, and allows you to easily disable unwanted menu items.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html
The ShellExView utility displays the details of shell extensions installed
on your computer, and allows you to easily disable and enable each shell
extension.
ShellExView can be used for solving context-menu problems in Explorer
environment.


Thanks for the confirmations about my post. Bit of a mystery but I'm
glad it didn't get duplicated.

I'd tried several other tools, including Nirsoft's Shexview.exe, but
none came close to the no-brainer I was naively hoping to find.

I'm therefore reconciled to either registry hacking or tedious trial &
error from either CC or shexview.

Terry Pinnell wrote:

Any Dropbox users around?

My right click File Explorer context menu was already getting too long
so these recent changes in Dropbox has made it worse. Anyone found a
simple and safe way of culling all but 'Copy Dropbox link' please?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7zbpnc9ry...text.jpg?raw=1


I only have a single entry added to the context menu (on a file object)
showing "icon Send with Transfer ..." for Dropbox. I then
right-clicked on a JPEG file as you showed, and I got the above Dropbox
context menu entry along with "Move to Dropbox". I'm using Dropbox
version 104.4.175 (you didn't mention your version) on Windows 10 Home
x64 1909 build 18363.1016 (you didn't mention your OS edition, bitwidth,
or build number). I still didn't get all the other Dropbox entries you
show. I did not any option within the Dropbox client that I have to
disable its shell integration.

You could use Nirsoft's Shell Extension Viewer (ShellExView) to disable
it. In ShellExView, search on "dropbox". Right-click on the entry and
select to disable it.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html

This makes a registry change, but shell extensions are read when Windows
starts up (Windows loads the registry from the files into system memory
when Windows starts), not whenever you choose to use File Explorer. You
will likely have to reload Explorer by either logging out and back in,
or by opening Task Manager, use it to kill all explorer.exe processes
(the desktop disappears), and use its "File - Run new task" menu to run
explorer.exe again. Note: the latter method of restarting Explorer may
not have all systray icons reappear.

--------------------

Subsequently I tried CCleaner, but like all the tools I've seen it
does not allow unambiguous identification:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zatkwt7o0c...t-CC.jpg?raw=1

Oh, so you already know about ShellExView. I wrote the above before
looking at the rest of your post and looking at the 2nd screenshot.
Yep, the Dropbox client is rude by not providing a setting to disable
its context menu entries (shell integration), and not even letting you
select a cascading menu versus a flat list of its shell integrations.

Adding shell extensions is easier than doing one entry for a cascading
menu. With a flat list of entries, their added once and don't have to
be touched again by the program. For a cascading menu, there is one
entry for the shell extension, but the program itself has to manage the
submenu(s) which means the program author has to write more code, plus
if there is an error in there code then File Explorer can crash because
it becomes dependent on that 3rd party code.

I counted 12 shell extension entries for Dropbox. Sort by the
Description column, and all the Dropbox entries get grouped together.
Looks like you have 12, too, not 11.

https://www.dropbox.com/support is about the only feedback avenue that I
could find to complain/request that they add a shell integration off/on
toggle switch in their program, and to use a cascaded menu, so only 1
entry for them shows up in the context menu instead of many. Whether a
flat list or a cascaded menu, they should also let you select which
entries to show, not just all or none. Some you may use, some you may
never use. You need an account with them to submit a support request to
their customer service folks, but then you already have one. I don't
participate in their web-based community forums to know if any of
Dropbox's techs or support crew visit there. I did a search there, and
most users were reporting on missing context menu entries for Dropbox.

Not all programs provide settings to control their shell integration.
Few let you decide which entries to see. Even fewer let you choose
between a flat list or cascaded menu. Most, if they allow any user
control, just toggle on/off the shell integration. And way too many, as
you have discovered, are rude in pollution the context menu without your
permission. I've even seen where they allow disabling their shell
integration, but it's a one-way choice: no way to reenable their shell
integration other than by uninstalling and reinstalling their program.

On Sun, 30 Aug 2020 16:02:34 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:

The previous posting from you to this group (that's visible on NIN) was
over 6 weeks ago

Unfortunately, dejagoogle doesn't archive this newsgroup...

But PC Banter used to (dunno if they still do).
o http://www.pcbanter.net/forumdisplay.php?f=52

As does narkive...
o http://alt.comp.os.windows-10.narkive.com
--
Usenet is a public searchable archive of useful solutions & tutorials.

On 8/30/2020 12:49 PM, Terry Pinnell wrote:
"Mayayana" wrote:

"Terry Pinnell" wrote


| First, can someone kindly check whether they already see the previous
| version of this post please?

Not there that I see.

| Any Dropbox users around?
|
| My right click File Explorer context menu was already getting too long
| so these recent changes in Dropbox has made it worse. Anyone found a
| simple and safe way of culling all but 'Copy Dropbox link' please?
|
| https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7zbpnc9ry...text.jpg?raw=1

What a mess. You might first check whether the program
settings allow you to remove those menu items. Few programs
have been so badly behaved since the 90s as to saddle you
with so much crap and not let you remove it.

That's likely to be under HKCR\*. It's not
a Dropbox thing. Assuming Win10 hasn't completely rewired
Explorer, what you see on the context menu follows a
system. The top section is under HKCR\*\Shell. you can
usually find the menu text there. Below that will be more
complicated items created by a shell extension, coming from
HKCR\*\ShellEx. Those usually have informative names.
If not then you have to look up the GUID value under
HKCR\CLSID. You can then find the source under something
like HKCR\CLSID\[GUID]\InProcServer32. It could also be
LocalServer32 or something similar. That depends, but all
such "server" keys point to the DLL or EXE that provides
the functionality.

Once you find what you don't want you can just delete it
to prevent it loading. If you're nervous about that then
export the key first, so that you can get it back if
necessary.

There's also another wrinkle here, but it sounds like it
won't apply in this case: HKCR\* applies to all files.
Specific file types are addressed accordingly. HKCR\.jpg,
HKCR\.doc, etc. Folders are under HKCR\folder or
HKCR\directory. But the basic structure is still the same.
It's still Shell and ShellEx. Shell contains subkeys,
with the Command key pointing to an executable.
ShellEx will point to the CLSIDs for shell extensions to
be loaded.


Mayayana & Andy: Thanks both, I'll start working in the registry. The
reply I had from the Dropbox forum confirmed that there was no way to do
it from Dropbox itself.

Not real sure I understand the problem but see if CCleaner in the
Startup|Content Menu is what you want to remove items from.

Easy to use as long as the original program don't keep putting the
entries back in for you.

VanguardLH wrote:

Terry Pinnell wrote:

Any Dropbox users around?

My right click File Explorer context menu was already getting too long
so these recent changes in Dropbox has made it worse. Anyone found a
simple and safe way of culling all but 'Copy Dropbox link' please?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7zbpnc9ry...text.jpg?raw=1


I only have a single entry added to the context menu (on a file object)
showing "icon Send with Transfer ..." for Dropbox. I then
right-clicked on a JPEG file as you showed, and I got the above Dropbox
context menu entry along with "Move to Dropbox". I'm using Dropbox
version 104.4.175 (you didn't mention your version) on Windows 10 Home
x64 1909 build 18363.1016 (you didn't mention your OS edition, bitwidth,
or build number). I still didn't get all the other Dropbox entries you
show. I did not any option within the Dropbox client that I have to
disable its shell integration.

You could use Nirsoft's Shell Extension Viewer (ShellExView) to disable
it. In ShellExView, search on "dropbox". Right-click on the entry and
select to disable it.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html

This makes a registry change, but shell extensions are read when Windows
starts up (Windows loads the registry from the files into system memory
when Windows starts), not whenever you choose to use File Explorer. You
will likely have to reload Explorer by either logging out and back in,
or by opening Task Manager, use it to kill all explorer.exe processes
(the desktop disappears), and use its "File - Run new task" menu to run
explorer.exe again. Note: the latter method of restarting Explorer may
not have all systray icons reappear.

--------------------

Subsequently I tried CCleaner, but like all the tools I've seen it
does not allow unambiguous identification:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zatkwt7o0c...t-CC.jpg?raw=1

Oh, so you already know about ShellExView. I wrote the above before
looking at the rest of your post and looking at the 2nd screenshot.
Yep, the Dropbox client is rude by not providing a setting to disable
its context menu entries (shell integration), and not even letting you
select a cascading menu versus a flat list of its shell integrations.

Adding shell extensions is easier than doing one entry for a cascading
menu. With a flat list of entries, their added once and don't have to
be touched again by the program. For a cascading menu, there is one
entry for the shell extension, but the program itself has to manage the
submenu(s) which means the program author has to write more code, plus
if there is an error in there code then File Explorer can crash because
it becomes dependent on that 3rd party code.

I counted 12 shell extension entries for Dropbox. Sort by the
Description column, and all the Dropbox entries get grouped together.
Looks like you have 12, too, not 11.

https://www.dropbox.com/support is about the only feedback avenue that I
could find to complain/request that they add a shell integration off/on
toggle switch in their program, and to use a cascaded menu, so only 1
entry for them shows up in the context menu instead of many. Whether a
flat list or a cascaded menu, they should also let you select which
entries to show, not just all or none. Some you may use, some you may
never use. You need an account with them to submit a support request to
their customer service folks, but then you already have one. I don't
participate in their web-based community forums to know if any of
Dropbox's techs or support crew visit there. I did a search there, and
most users were reporting on missing context menu entries for Dropbox.

Not all programs provide settings to control their shell integration.
Few let you decide which entries to see. Even fewer let you choose
between a flat list or cascaded menu. Most, if they allow any user
control, just toggle on/off the shell integration. And way too many, as
you have discovered, are rude in pollution the context menu without your
permission. I've even seen where they allow disabling their shell
integration, but it's a one-way choice: no way to reenable their shell
integration other than by uninstalling and reinstalling their program.

Thanks for that thorough reply.

Now that (after some tentative culling with CC and shexview) I can at
least see ALL my context menu entries within the 1200 pixel height of my
screen, I've put this issue aside for now.

In some areas, like this one of context menu editing, the Windows UI is
pitifully inadequate IMO.

"Terry Pinnell" wrote

| In some areas, like this one of context menu editing, the Windows UI is
| pitifully inadequate IMO.

It's a longstanding philosophical issue. Should
dumbass users get control or should halfwit,
greedy programmers get control? Even the war
between IE and Netscape was out of the hands
of normal people, as each would decimate the
Registry when installed.

None of this stuff should happen without asking.
Even 7-Zip provides a ridiculously involved context
menu. The settings are detailed and available in
the program settings, but it doesn't ask permission
in adding the menu. On the other hand, how many
people would understand if they were given the
option?

When MS came out with Active Desktop they
provided a number of "shell extension" options
that programmers could build. It was a great idea,
but it's also been misused. (Remember how installing
software could sometimes add a new, unwanted
toolbar to IE?)
It's also somewhat insecure. I've made an Explorer
Bar for myself, to customize folder window functionality.
It's tied into IE. No way to prevent that. I also once
wrote a MIME filter, to help customize webpages for
a blind friend. A MIME filter gets total control of every
incoming webpage and can edit it in any way desired.
All of these things only require a Registry setting or
two to be activated. (Though I think MS finally stopped
supporting MIME filters with IE11 or so. But how many
AOLers had their web activity monitored or even altered?
How many people unwittingly installed spyware by adding
something like a video player?)