Can I remove the locations/views from the Windows Explorer pane in Windows 7?

Question

Is it possible to remove the locations/views from Windows Explorer in the folder pane on the left? Example: Favorites, Libraries, Homegroup, etc.

I'd like to be able to choose which categories I see here.

Answer 1

There is no way to change these in Windows 7 directly.

However this LifeHacker article mentions an application called FindeXer that does allow customizing the side bar and is compatible with Vista. I am not sure if it will work on Windows 7 thought.

Answer 2

Often it will be a per item process to add/remove items from the Windows Explorer navigation pane. Here are some links from superuser or other sites for some of the more commonly removed items:

1. Remove Libraries from the Windows Explorer navigation pane.
2. Remove HomeGroup from the navigation pane.
3. Remove Favorites from the Windows Explorer navigation pane.

1 & 2 are sufficient for me, as those are the most annoying in terms of not using them and taking up so much space. =)

[Feel free to edit above and add any other methods/items. Also, the accepted answer might have been true previously, but not any longer. Note that the above do require either fiddling with services or the registry.]