okay, i may have found a working solution to delete custom application-elements fom the context menu. it is again in the registry (it probably always will be), but i'm going to walk you through it, and it's easy to restore. just follow the steps.
- Start > Run > type 'regedit'
- expand HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
- expand the first folder '*'
- expand the folder 'shellex'
- expand the folder 'ContextMenuHandlers'
- [here you should see folders for each application that is installed in the right-click context menu]
- click on the folder of the application you'd like to remove.
- double-click on the file in the right pane
- leave the long code intact, just add a dash ('-') in front of it, like this:
{63AFBDFB-5EF8-4791-AF79-9A3C0DE48974} becomes:
-{63AFBDFB-5EF8-4791-AF79-9A3C0DE48974} -do this for every application you wish to remove.
-exit regedit, refresh, and enjoy the shortened context menu.
hope this helped
pygmalion