How to Remove Favorites, Libraries, Homegroup and Network from the Navigation Pane in Windows 7

As you have seen in Windows 7, the navigation pane in Windows Explorer contains 5 subdivisions Favorites, Libraries, Homegroup, Computer and Network. Some users don’t use all these branches all the time and want to clean up the navigation pane. But in Windows 7 there is no alternative for solving this problem except to modify the Windows Registry. In this tutorial I will show you how to remove these subdivisions through the Registry Editor.

Note: Before changing anything in Windows registry; it’s better to get a backup from the registry.

How to Remove the Favorites

1. Go to Start>Run>regedit and open the Windows Registry Editor. Then navigate to the key below:

2. Right-click on ShellFolder and from the drop down menu, select Permissions.

3. In Permissions for ShellFolder window, choose the Administrators and under Permissions for Administrators and in front of the Full Control, tick the Allow option.

4. Go back to Registry Editor and in the right side window, double-click on Attributes.

5. In the Edit DWORD window, enter the Value a9400100 and click on OK button. Restart your system to see the effect.

6. To restore the Favorites branch again, follow the steps 1 to 5 and this time enter the value a0900100.

How to Remove the Libraries

Note: If you remove the Libraries, you may face some drawback to access the Windows Libraries items.

1. Go to Start>Run>regedit and then navigate to the key below:

And the find the key {031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}

2. Delete this key to get rid of Libraries branch. For deleting this key just right-click on it and from the drop down menu select Delete. Exit from the registry and restart your system to see the effect.

3. To restore the Libraries subdivision, navigate to the same path in Windows registry and create the key again.

How to Remove the Homegroup

To remove the Homegroup you don’t need to modify any Windows registry key. You can remove it through Windows Control Panel and Services. Just follow these steps:

1. Go to Control Panel>Network and Internet>Choose homegruoup and sharing options and then in the next window select Leave the homegroup.

2. The Leave the Homegroup window will be open. Choose the Leave the homegroup.

3. In the Start search box type services.msc and hit the Enter key to open the Windows Services.

4. Find the HomeGroup Listener and double click on it.

5. In the HomeGroup Listener Properties in front of Startup type, select Disabled.

6. Under the Service status, hit the Stop button and wait till the Windows stop the service. OK the window and go back to Services window.

7. This time double-click on HomeGroup Provider and repeat the steps 1 to 6.

8. Open the Windows Explorer to see the effect.

How to Remove the Networks

Note: This will also remove the Network desktop icon.

1. Go to the Start>Run>regedit and navigate to the key below:

2. Right-click on the ShellFolder and from the drop down menu, select Permissions.

3. In the Permissions for SellFolder window, choose Administrators and under Permissions for Administrators and in front of Full Control, tick the Allow option and OK the window.