For those who want to remove one or more of the icons links displayed in the left sided navigation pane of Windows 7 Explorer, here is the way to guide you how you can do it.
Note: All these changes are reversible, however, make a restore point before you start. This tutorial is intended for intermediate to advanced users.
Remove the Favorites icon
1. Click start. Type “regedit” (Without the quotation marks) in the search field; hit enter. Accept the Windows 7 security prompt. Windows Registry Editor will open:
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT > CLSID > {323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E} > ShellFolder ; right click over it and select permission. Set it to allow full access:
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You can change the Ownership rights over the key ShellFolders only or the whole subkey.
3. Change the DWord value “attributes” from 0900100 to 9400100 :
4. Click OK and then restart.
5. To revert back, you need to change the Value to default (i.e. 0900100) again and restart.
Remove the Library icon
Same as before, just go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT > CLSID > {031E4825-7B94-B131-4dc3-E946B44C8DD5} > ShellFolder and change the DWord value “attributes” to b090010d from default b080010d
Remove the Network icon
Same as before, just go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Policies > NonEnum and Create a 32 bit DWORD value: {F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C} and :
- 00000001 to hide the network in Windows Explorer
- 00000000 to show the network in Windows Explorer
