Trick to Remove or ‘Unpin’ Irremovable Programs or System Folders from Windows 7 Start Menu

Some application programs or folder shortcuts cannot be unpinned or removed from Start Menu in Windows 7 after user pins it to Start Menu. For example, Computer, Network, Control Panel and Recycle Bin are several major culprit. Once pinned to Start Menu, there is no option or command in right click context menu to unpin the program from Start Menu.

The workaround to remove and delete to unpin these irremovable Start Menu pinned program items such as Control Panel and Recycle Bin is to delete a registry key named “Favorites” in “StartPage” registry key. To do so, run Registry Editor (RegEdit), then navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage

In the right pane, delete Favorites registry entry. Restart the computer, and Start Menu will be reset to original default.

Alternatively, just download Reset_Pin_to_Start_Menu.zip and run Reset_Pin_to_Start_Menu.reg registry file as administrator to automatically delete the registry value.

However, it’s impotatnt to note that all pinned items and programs on Start Menu will be removed and deleted or unpinned. User will have to re-pin the programs that he or she wants to appear on top of Start Menu permanently again.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 1:53 am and is filed under Windows 7. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.