This PC - Add or Remove "Folders" in Windows 8.1

How Add or Remove Default "Folders" from This PC in Windows 8.1​

   Information

In Windows 8.1, Computer has been renamed to This PC. This PC now displays your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders in addition to the usual devices and drives (hard drives, optical drives, and removable devices) and network locations.

These linked "Folders" are shortcuts of the folders in the C:\Users\(user name) profile folder of the currently signed in user.

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the default Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders from only This PC (Computer) for all users in Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

   Warning

Be sure that you use the correct download from Option One or Option Two below for your 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 for it to work properly.

   Tip

Recent Windows Updates have been resetting this and restoring Folders back to This PC.

If this happens to you after installing Windows Updates, then you can just reapply the .reg file below again.

EXAMPLE: Folders Added and Removed from "This PC" in Windows 8.1

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OPTION ONE

Add or Remove "Folders" from This PC in 32-bit Windows 8.1

   Note

This option will only work in 32-bit Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1.

For 64-bit, see OPTION TWO below instead.

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1. Do step 2 or 3, OR 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and/or 9 below for what you would like to do.​

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2. To Restore All "Folders" to This PC in 32-bit Windows 8.1​

NOTE: This is the default setting.​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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Restore_Folders_in_This_PC.reg​

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3. To Remove All "Folders" from This PC in 32-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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Remove_All_Folders_in_This_PC.reg​

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4. To Remove Only "Desktop" Folder from This PC in 32-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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Remove_Desktop_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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5. To Remove Only "Documents" Folder from This PC in 32-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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Remove_Documents_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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6. To Remove Only "Downloads" Folder from This PC in 32-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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Remove_Downloads_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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7. To Remove Only "Music" Folder from This PC in 32-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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Remove_Music_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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8. To Remove Only "Pictures" Folder from This PC in 32-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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Remove_Pictures_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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9. To Remove Only "Videos" Folder from This PC in 32-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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Remove_Videos_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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10. Save the .reg file to your Desktop.​

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11. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.​

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12. If prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.​

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13. Restart the PC to fully apply.​

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14. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.​

OPTION TWO

Add or Remove "Folders" from This PC in 64-bit Windows 8.1

   Note

This option will only work in 64-bit Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1.

For 32-bit, see OPTION ONE above instead.

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1. Do step 2 or 3, OR 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and/or 9 below for what you would like to do.​

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2. To Restore All "Folders" to This PC in 64-bit Windows 8.1​

NOTE: This is the default setting.​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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64-bit_Restore_Folders_in_This_PC.reg​

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3. To Remove All "Folders" from This PC in 64-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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64-bit_Remove_All_Folders_in_This_PC.reg​

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4. To Remove Only "Desktop" Folder from This PC in 64-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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64-bit_Remove_Desktop_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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5. To Remove Only "Documents" Folder from This PC in 64-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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64-bit_Remove_Documents_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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6. To Remove Only "Downloads" Folder from This PC in 64-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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64-bit_Remove_Downloads_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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7. To Remove Only "Music" Folder from This PC in 64-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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64-bit_Remove_Music_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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8. To Remove Only "Pictures" Folder from This PC in 64-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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64-bit_Remove_Pictures_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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9. To Remove Only "Videos" Folder from This PC in 64-bit Windows 8.1​

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A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.​

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64-bit_Remove_Videos_Folder_in_This_PC.reg​

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10. Save the .reg file to your Desktop.​

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11. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.​

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12. If prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.​

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13. Restart the PC to fully apply.​

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14. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.​

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Add or Remove Libraries in This PC in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Add or Remove Control Panel in This PC in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Add or Remove OneDrive in This PC in Windows 8.1
• Add or Remove "Computer" or "This PC" from Navigation Pane in Windows 8 or Windows 8.1
• How to Change "Computer" or "This PC" Folder Name in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Add or Remove Your User Folder on Navigation Pane in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Map OneDrive in This PC in Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1
• How to Add or Remove DLNA Media Servers from This PC in Windows 8 and 8.1

 

[Brink]

I've noticed that the folders tend to come back after Windows updates. I enabled Auditing on those keys to see what was accessing them, but gave up after a while of waiting for more updates to show up. What I've done for now (which I'm not sure will work), is set the permissions for the user "Everyone" to read access only, and removed all other permissions.

Hello Marc, and welcome to Eight Forums.

There have been some pretty heavy system updates lately, and they most likely reset this back to default settings. Did reapplying the tutorial get rid of them again?

 

[zeggie]

Long time reader first time poster

The downloaded .reg's don't seem to work anymore after the lastest Windows Updates for Win 8.1 64bit.
I manually went in regedit to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\

and deleted

Desktop Folder – {B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}
Documents Folder – {A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}
Downloads Folder – {374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}
Music Folder – {1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}
Pictures Folder – {3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}
Videos Folder – {A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}

and can confirm that this works permanently

 

[Brink]

Hello Zeggie, and welcome to Eight Forums.

This still works in Windows 8.1 Update.

Did you use the .reg files from OPTION TWO, and not from OPTION ONE? It sounds like may have you used Option One by mistake.

The .reg files from OPTION TWO delete those registry keys at the same locations and the same at the Wow6432Node locations.

 

[zeggie]

Yep definitely from option 2. Tried several times and didn't work :/

"The .reg files from OPTION ONE delete those registry keys at the same locations and the same at the Wow6432Node locations."

looking at the reg files likes like thats vice versa

 

[Brink]

Option Two and Option One delete the same thing, but Option One doesn't include the Wow6432Node locations since it's for 32-bit Windows, and Option Two does include the Wow6432Node locations since it's for 64-bit Windows.

When you merged the 64-bit_Remove_All_Folders_in_This_PC.reg file from step 3 in Option Two, did it successfully delete the registry keys?

Option One:

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}]

Option Two:

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}]

 

[Marc05]

...

Hello Marc, and welcome to Eight Forums.

There have been some pretty heavy system updates lately, and they most likely reset this back to default settings. Did reapplying the tutorial get rid of them again?

I've actually had this issue for months now. Just about every time I can remember after an update, the folders came back. Deleting the keys again works, but it's not really a permanent solution since there are updates each month. The permissions fix should work as a permanent solution though.

 

[Brink]

Hopefully, those will be the last major updates for a bit until Update 2 comes out.

 

[Marc05]

Hopefully, those will be the last major updates for a bit until Update 2 comes out.

Now I'm wondering if the updates will work properly with only read access to those keys. Damn it Microsoft; I hope Update 2 adds an option to disable these folders properly.

 

[Brink]

If not, you can always change the permissions.

 

[independent2100]

Add or Remove Folders

Hey Shawn!

This is not a set-it-and-forget-it setting. The pesky folders keep re-appearing after certain Windows Updates. I'm not sure which ones they are, because it doesn't happen with every update. This time, I'm saving the reg entry so it will be handy the next time that this happens. And I'm sure that it will happen again. The fix is quick so it really isn't a problem.

~Obviously, I didn't read all 108 prior posts before posting this.

Ann

 

[Brink]

Hello Ann,

Yeah, the updates that had been released lately have been pretty major ones that reset a lot to default.

Hopefully after the next Update 2 release, we won't have to reapply this as often.

I've added a yellow tip box at the top of the tutorial to help remind folks about this.

 

[zerowalker]

This doesn't work for me at all, tried both 32 and 64-bit, (64-bit OS Windows 8.1).

Nothing happens after reboot, everything is there, any ideas?

 

[Brink]

Hello Zerowalker,

Are you signed in to an administrator account?

Did you use the .reg download from step 2 in OPTION TWO?

If so, be sure that you approve all the prompts when merging, then restart to apply.

 

[zerowalker]

Yes i am, it's the only account there is.

Yes i used the "Remove All".

I clicked yes and restarted, tried 2 times

 

[Brink]

There should have been at least a Yes and OK (step 12) to click on to approve the merge. Are you sure you didn't miss one?

 

[zerowalker]

Nope, clicked Yes, done registry stuff before, will try to look at it manually, perhaps it's reset on boot or something.

 

[Brink]

It doesn't reset by default. However, it's been reported that some recent Windows Updates had reset it back to default after they were installed, but doesn't prevent this from being set back again though.

 

[zerowalker]

Yeah read that, so i did it an extra time as i did one while an updated was going to occur, to no avail though.

What is the reg doing, i want to manually check, is it supposed to remove those CLSID "folders"?

EDIT:

Okay looked in the wrong place, but it does seem the registry edit works, i can't find the parts that's being removed, only other CLSID Classes etc.

 

[Brink]

Here's the content of the .reg file from step 2 Option Two to see what it's deleting in the registry.

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}]

 

[jonrichco]

Hi Shawn. Looks like a great approach. However my Asus 400CA running 64 bit 8.1 did not remove Desktop and Documents. I had previously removed music pictures videos etc by deleting the keys the registry (NameSpace). Unfortunately I need to preserve Desktop and Documents as there is stuff in them that I need. Two questions - (i) is there anything I can do to make them work, and (ii) if I delete the namespace keys in Microsoft myself, will the folders be preserved in Users. I guess not. I cannot immediately see the point of the Wow6432Node key in your reg file.

And yes, I am an administrator, and I accepted all the UAC stuff (seeing your posts above)