Removing "Set Program Access and Defaults"
By: Arie Slob
Windows XP Service Pack 1 added a new option called "Set Program Access and Defaults", which dumped an extra icon on the All Programs menu, and also added an icon to the Add or Remove Programs applet in Control Panel. To learn more about this feature read: Service Pack 1 For Windows XP To Include Antitrust Tweaks.
If you want to remove these icons you can. First, follow these steps to remove the Set Program Access and Defaults icon from the All Programs menu:
- Start the Registry Editor
- Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer
- From the Edit menu select New > DWORD value
- Enter the name NoSMConfigurePrograms, double-click the new value, and enter 1 as the Value Data
- Close the registry editor and log off from Windows for the changes to take effect
To remove the icon from the Add or Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel:
- Start the Registry Editor
- Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Uninstall
- From the Edit menu select New > DWORD value
- Enter the name NoChooseProgramsPage, double-click the new value, and enter 1 as the Value Data
- Close the registry editor and log off from Windows for the changes to take effect
To reverse the effect, either delete the values you added, or change the Value Data from 1 to 0.