If you have an older application that is struggling to make the migration to your new Windows 7 computer then the Troubleshoot compatibility wizard included within Windows can become quite handy. You can initiate the wizard by right-click on the application in question and selecting the option from the context menu. For most users, however, the troubleshoot compatibility context item is just additional clutter and distraction from the true purpose of our right-click. Here’s how to remove the item from the context menu.

Access the Windows Registry via the Start Menu and executing regedit.

Traverse down to the registry key titled HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Compatibility

Edit the only string visible by double clicking on it. To prevent Troubleshoot Compatibility from showing pre-pend a dash or – to the Value data.

This addresses the annoyance for applications directly but the change does not apply to shortcuts or .lnk files. To apply the change next navigate to the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Compatibility and repeat the pre-pending of a dash as above.

Now right-clicking on any application or shortcut link will show the complete removal of the Troubleshoot compatibility context item. If you wish to revert the change simply repeat the steps above but this time removing the dash that was added.