Do you wish to add frequently used applications to the Windows desktop right-click menu? You can easily add your frequently used applications to the Windows desktop right-click menu by making some changes to your registry. In this way, you can avoid having too many shortcut icons on your desktop and improve the performance of the system.

Steps to Add Any Application to the Windows Desktop Right-Click Menu

You can easily add any application, be it Adobe Photoshop, or Microsoft Visual Studio or Microsoft Word to your Windows desktop right-click menu. Here, we will see how we can easily add Notepad by making some changes to your system’s registry.

1. The first step is to go to your system’s regedit.exe. You can open it by going to “Run” and typing regedit.exe.
2. Next, browse for the following key, that is “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell.”
3. Now, you should create a new entry underneath the “Shell” key.
4. After that, right click on the shell user interface and then select “New” and from there select the option “Key.”
5. Now, enter a name for the item that you need to see in the context menu on your desktop. For example enter the value as “Notepad.”
6. You can also enter shortcut keys if you wish to easily access the application through the keyboard.
7. The next step is to create a command key. The command key holds the command that is going to be used for opening the application.
8. Select the newly created Notepad and right-click and select the option “Key.” Now, choose New> Key and then enter the name as “command.”
9. After this, you need to copy and paste the complete path of the application that you are going to add to the Windows desktop right-click menu.
10. Once you have copied the full path of the application, you need to double click on the command and then from the right side of the window, double click on the entry “Default” to edit it.
11. Next, you need to paste the path in the field “value data.” Now. press the OK button.
12. Make sure you copy and paste the full path. If the path is not correct, then it will not work.
13. Now, go back to your desktop and right-click. You can see the newly created item “Notepad” there. By clicking on the notepad, it will open up the Notepad program for you.

Conclusion

You can add as many applications to the Windows Desktop right-click menu. It is one of the easiest ways to manage applications, as well as helps in clearing the mess from your desktop. Most users create a desktop shortcut making your desktop look crowded and later on they find it difficult to manage. By adding your frequently used applications to the Windows Desktop right-click menu, you can easily manage them without any difficulty. The Windows Desktop right-click menu also helps in improving the performance of your system as you are clearing most of the unwanted shortcuts from your desktop.