If you have installed Microsoft Office on a computer system you might have installed a module called Microsoft Groove with it. Microsoft Office Groove was designed for document collaboration “in teams with members who are regularly off-line or who do not share the same network security clearance”. The area where most users come in contact with Microsoft Groove is the right-click context menu entry that is added after the installation of Microsoft Office. The Groove Folder Synchronization will appear on right-clicks but also in Internet Explorer and other areas of Windows Explorer.
The easiest way to remove the Microsoft Groove Folder Synchronization is by uninstalling Microsoft Office Groove. That is the best and most secure way to deal with the entries of that Office module. All you need to do is go into the Windows Control Panel, select Add / Remove programs, click on the Change button in the Microsoft Office 2007 entry, select to add or remove components and to uncheck Groove when the list of components is displayed.
This will uninstall Microsoft Office Groove from the system. Users who simply want to get rid of the context menu entries can do the following instead.
Locate the following Registry keys and delete them to remove the Groove Folder Synchronization entries:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX
This will remove the entries from the context menu but will not uninstall Microsoft Office Groove.
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ty for the solution. i always hated it taking up space in my context menu. an easier way would be bringing up search in the Registry for ‘XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX’ entries. make sure the 5 entries which Martin stated are deleted.
Well I always felt Grove to be a burden.
I made a .reg file which makes it easier to add/remove the context menu.
add menu: http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/6810
remove menu: http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/6809
tested only on vista.
It works under xp, too,
Thank you nice work.
Thanks but there is no icon to remove in add/remove programs. Just an annoying configuration box that keeps popping up. I need to get rid of it another way.
at last!!! i was searching this for almost a year now. thank you for sharing this!
I struggled for a while, because I couldn’t find Groove in my add/remove programs. If that happens to you, go to Add/Remove, click on Microsoft Office 2007 and select CHANGE. Then you can deselect individual components, amongst others, Groove.
I can’t eevn find microsoft office 2007 in my add/remove programs -,- , i have vista sooo… can any1 help?
thank for this tip.. I don’t want to see my right click context menu that wider..
Thank you for this fix. Easy directions and good explanation.
i tried removing it thru add/remove programs and MS Office – change thing but I could not find groove anywhere in MS Office.
About those registry things, how do I find them so that I can delete them.
In my laptop, whenever I start the system, groove starts running.
that is the only prob.
I dont have any problem with my right click entries.