Why Does My Windows Vista Explorer Send To Menu Hang or Open Slowly?

Have you ever noticed that the Send To context menu can be ridiculously slow to open sometimes? You right-click a file and choose Send To, and then have to wait for about 30 seconds for explorer to respond again. Annoying! so how do we fix it?

The problem is almost always caused because Windows automatically puts items for each removable drive into the Send To menu, but could also be caused by having an excessive amount of unused items in the list. We’ll cover how to get rid of both.

Customize the Send To Folder

Excessive items in your Send To folder can slow things down, so we’ll want to trim down to just what we need. Open up Explorer and then type in the following into the address/location bar:

shell:sendto

You’ll see the contents of the Send To folder, where you can delete anything that shouldn’t be there or you don’t use.

why-does-my-windows-vista-explorer-send-to-menu-hang-or-open-slowly photo 1

But you’ll notice that your Send To folder still contains shortcuts to each of the removable drives:

why-does-my-windows-vista-explorer-send-to-menu-hang-or-open-slowly photo 2 

To remove those, we’ll have to use a registry hack instead.

Hide Drive Letters With Registry Hack

You can remove the drive letters in the Send To menu with a quick registry hack. If you still want to use Send To for a particular drive letter, you can manually create a shortcut to it as explained further down.

Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key (creating if it doesn’t exist)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

why-does-my-windows-vista-explorer-send-to-menu-hang-or-open-slowly photo 3

Create a new 32-bit DWORD value on the right-hand side with the following values:

  • Name: NoDrivesInSendToMenu
  • Value: 1

You’ll have to log off and back on for the setting to take effect, but you shouldn’t see drive letters in the Send To menu anymore:

why-does-my-windows-vista-explorer-send-to-menu-hang-or-open-slowly photo 4

To disable the hack and go back to default, just delete the key and logout again.

Download Registry Hack

Simply extract the file and double-click on DisableSendToDrives.reg to enter the information into the registry. You’ll have to log off and back on for the setting to take effect. There’s also an included EnableSendToDrives.reg to put things back to normal.

Download DisableSendToDrives Registry Hack

Remove CD Burning Item

If you have an entry to send files to a disc using the built-in cd/dvd burning items, you can also remove that using this registry tweak:

Disable Windows Vista’s Built-in CD/DVD Burning Features

Manually Create Drive Shortcuts

If you still want to use the SendTo menu for a particular drive, you can manually create a shortcut. Type shell:sendto into the address bar, and then drag the drive into the window to create a shortcut.

why-does-my-windows-vista-explorer-send-to-menu-hang-or-open-slowly photo 5

You could also create shortcuts to particular folders as well… just remember to right-click drag folders to create shortcuts instead of moving the actual directory.

Note: You could also add Move To / Copy To to the Context Menu as an alternate method.

Article Why Does My Windows Vista Explorer Send To Menu Hang or Open Slowly? compiled by Original article here

More stories

A Look At Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1

I realize Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 has been reviewed on several locations on the net. However, I would not be doing our loyal reader’s justice without expressing our take on the new browser. So, wanna hear it? Here it go!

Install Recovery Console as a Boot Menu Option on Windows XP

When you have a problem with your Windows computer, you’ll usually be told to insert the Windows cdrom and then start the Recovery Console in order to fix the issue. So where did you put that XP disc anyway? Why can’t we just install the recovery console to the hard drive?

Add "Run as Administrator" to Any File Type in Windows 7 or Vista

Have you ever tried to unzip a file to the Program Files directory in Windows 7 or Vista? You’ll get all sorts of permission denied errors, and generally be unsuccessful. So how do we open up the zipfile as an administrator? For that matter, how do you open any file as administrator?

Remove the Username From the Start Menu in XP

Let me start by saying that I have no idea why anybody would want to do this, and it’s perhaps one of the most useless articles I’ve ever written. That said, if you’ve ever wondered how to remove the username from the Start menu in Windows XP, this article is for you.

Remove the On-Screen Keyboard on the Vista Login Screen

I’ve got a Wacom drawing tablet hooked up to my computer, and ever since I installed Vista’s Tablet PC utilities, I’ve had this obnoxious onscreen keyboard on the welcome screen that just can’t seem to be turned off through any regular settings. So how do I get rid of it?

Fix Your Broken Outlook Personal Folders (PST) File

If you use Outlook and you’ve noticed it being excessively slow or just having errors, you should probably scan and repair your Personal Folders file for any problems. It’s sorta like checkdisk for your email.