Can I add items to File and Folder Tasks in Win XP explorer? (+)

[Guest]

I am extensivelly using common tasks pane in windows xp explorer, it's very
useful, don't need extra clicks to display context menus etc. But can I
customize items in the File and Folder tasks pane. For example I want to add
button "Check for viruses" with my installed anti-virus software.

And I would also like to change "Play ..." items in Music Tasks in the
following way:
I use STP player to play mp3 files and all .mp3s associated with this player
(not windows media player), but when I click "Play all" or "Play selection"
media player starts (not STP)? Can I fix it?

Dmitry
Windows XP Pro (Russian Edition) SP2

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Dmitry,

The Common Tasks pane cannot be customized without res.hacking the Shell.
For the 2nd question, it's possible to launch STP player when using the
"Play all" feature, as the "Play All" respects the file association setting.
For me the easier way is by editing the registry. FYI, the "Play" verb gets
invoked when you use the "Play All" feature of the Common Tasks.

Note: First, backup the registry or create a System Restore point if you
need to Undo the following procedure.

Replacing WMP for the "Play all" feature in the Common Tasks pane:
==============================================

1. Open Regedit and navigate to: [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mp3]

2. In the right-pane, set the (default) to "STPFile"
("STPFile" is the ProgID that we're going to create)

3. Under [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT], create a subkey named "STPFile"

4. Similarly create three more sub-keys upto this level below:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\STPFile\shell\Play\open]

5. In the right-pane, double-click (default) and set it's value as follows,
with quotes:

"C:\stp.exe" "%1"
Modify the path to STP.EXE file accordingly.

6. Close Registry Editor.