ChrisTitusTech
Remove explorer bloat
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. A few Windows 11 updates ago Microsoft added "Start" and "Gallery" in the file explorer sidebar. They aren't really useful and waste space. It would be nice to be able to hide them.
Describe the solution you'd like Maybe some registry tweak? As revertable as possible, so no destructive tweak. I found this on the Microsoft forum (https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-remove-gallery-folder-from-file-explorer/e065f58f-c752-4acd-a2a5-46438c5b7996):
reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace_41040327{e88865ea-0e1c-4e20-9aa6-edcd0212c87c}
Although deleting is pretty destructive. I'm not too familiar with developing solutions to these kinds of problems so that's how much I can say.
Additional context
For the gallery this one is a revertable option, by setting it to 1/0:
reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{e88865ea-0e1c-4e20-9aa6-edcd0212c87c} /f /v "System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree" /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000000
For the home I found this way (.reg file):
Remove:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}]
Add:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}]
@="CLSID_MSGraphHomeFolder"
so both would be revertable options
@MyDrift-user Now the question is, if those tweaks are worth it to add into winutil.
Worth adding for sure (my thought).
The question is add it as new or add it to an existing one?
I would lean towards creating a new tweak and not adding it into something already there, because the tweaks are already convoluted and unclear enough in regards to what they actually do. I think we should in general lean towards a 1:1 mapping for tweaks and changes so the user can have granular and simple control which tweaks should be applied or reverted.
@Marterich I agree with you. Also I would put it in the "Advanced Tweaks" section.
I would lean towards creating a new tweak and not adding it into something already there, because the tweaks are already convoluted and unclear enough in regards to what they actually do. I think we should in general lean towards a 1:1 mapping for tweaks and changes so the user can have granular and simple control which tweaks should be applied or reverted.
I generally agree, but winutil is currently not designed to have that many tweaks as seen that the applications tab is a bit bloated rn.
Fair, but seeing that winutil will likely only grow in the future, I think we should rather fix or rework the UI like @og-mrk is doing right now instead of compromising the functionality itself.