To select all files in a folder or in the Desktop, you use the CTRL + A keyboard shortcut. If you’re an avid mouse user, and need the select all functionality in the right click menu in Windows Vista, use this tweak. Note that this tweak does not work in Windows XP.
Adding Select All option to the context menu
1. Download selectall.zip and save it to the Desktop.
2. Unzip the archive and extract the contents to a folder.
3. Move the file selectall.vbs to the C:\Windows directory.
4. Double-click selectall.reg to add the Select All context menu option.
The Select All option is added to the right-click menu. This menu option will be seen when you right-click on the Desktop and when right-clicking on an empty area in a folder.
Undo Information
To remove the Select All option from the right-click menu, run the file undo.reg. Then delete the file selectall.vbs manually from the Windows directory.
More Information
The selectall.vbs powers the Select All option in the context menu. The script uses Windows Scripting Host (WSH) SendKeys method to send the keystroke CTRL + A for selecting all items in a folder. Here are the contents of the file selectall.vbs.
set oShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
oShell.SendKeys "^a"
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Now hows about one for the Control + hotkey? That’s one I use all the time for the web.
Okay, thanks!
Hi – thanks for this.. I found it works well, and is a godsend for the way i use my PC – EXCEPT… when I do use the right click, “select all” Really oddly… if my Number Lock is On at the time, it seems to launch my On Screen Display notification (which is part of my keyboard’s logitech set point software) to let me know my Number Lock is on… If my Number lock is OFF at the time I use the “Select All”notification, I don’t get any On Screen Display notification… wierd. This is no big deal, but just wondering if you know what’s going on? I am running Vista 64 bit – if that matters. It’s really minor though and I’m sure I can live with it!
Cheers.
Works also in XP!
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{242BC78A-5586-46FD-B277-1340F62E3A0C}]
@=”Select All”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{242BC78A-5586-46FD-B277-1340F62E3A0C}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
64,00,6f,00,63,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
“ThreadingModel”=”Apartment”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{242BC78A-5586-46FD-B277-1340F62E3A0C}\Instance]
“CLSID”=”{3f454f0e-42ae-4d7c-8ea3-328250d6e272}”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{242BC78A-5586-46FD-B277-1340F62E3A0C}\Instance\InitPropertyBag]
“CLSID”=”{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}”
“command”=”Select All”
“method”=”ShellExecute”
“Param1″=”C:\\WINDOWS\\selectall.vbs”
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\select all]
@=”{242BC78A-5586-46FD-B277-1340F62E3A0C}”
Thanks, it’s really useful! :)