How to Remove RSS Support from Outlook

You can remove RSS capability from Outlook 2007 using a registry hack.
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Some people just don't like the RSS feature in Outlook. Fortunately you can disable the RSS capability using group policy. While group policy is considered by many to be a ‘corporate’ feature, anyone can change their local group policy, or simply edit the registry.

Create the following key if it does not exist and restart Outlook:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\RSS
DWORD: Disable
Value: 1

This turns off the RSS capability but does not remove the RSS folder from your message store. Personal folders created after you enable this registry value will not include the RSS folder; however, you will not be able to delete existing RSS folders using the Outlook UI. You’ll need to use a MAPI editor, such as Exchange Server MAPI Editor or Outlook Spy, to delete the folder.

 

Using the Group Policy template

To use the group policy template:

  1. After extracting the files, go to Start menu, Run and type MMC
  2. Choose File, Add/Remove Snap-in
  3. Click Add
  4. Select Group Policy and press Add
  5. Press Finish, Close and then OK to return to the MMC
  6. In the left column of the MMC expand Local Computer Policy then right click Administrative Templates in User Configuration and choose Add/Remove Templates
  7. Browse to the location where you extracted the templates to and select OUTLK12.ADM and install it.
  8. Locate the policies you wish to enable and apply. 

Links

Download the policy templates from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92d8519a-e143-4aee-8f7a-e4bbaeba13e7&displaylang=en

Links to Outlook Spy, Exchange Server MAPI Editor and others:
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/dev.asp 

More Information

There are policy templates for each version of Outlook (and Office) available. Links to all versions of the Office Resource Kits are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ork2003/default.aspx - the policy templates are found in the Toolbox.