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Windows context menu handlers can be both static as well as dynamic. If you're interested in delving into it further, I advise you to read the Shortcut (Context) Menus and Shortcut Menu Handlers article, especially Choosing a Static or Dynamic Shortcut Menu Method and Customizing a Shortcut Menu Using Dynamic Verbs.

Quoting from this Visual Basic Shell Programming book excerpt:

Finally, if you want proof that the file is actually being read by WinRAR's shell extension DLL (since you seem to doubt it), here are the various ReadFile calls registered by Process Monitor on simply right-clicking a WinRAR SFX:

Hope that puts your doubts to rest. :) As for your second question about whether extensions have "less importance" now and lack "any influence in context menu[s]", I don't understand what you mean. Even image/video thumbnails are generated by shell extension handlers (DLLs). A list of different handlers can be found here. As you can see, it's possible to have custom shell extension handlers for everything ranging from shortcut menus, drag & drop operations, icons, icon overlays, property sheets, thumbnails, infotips, metadata, Explorer columns, copy/move/delete/rename dialogs, search...

Edit: Coincidentally, Raymond Chen happened to post an article about shell extensions today as well (don't forget to read the previous one too).

Windows context menu handlers can be both static as well as dynamic. If you're interested in delving into it further, I advise you to read the Shortcut (Context) Menus and Shortcut Menu Handlers article, especially Choosing a Static or Dynamic Shortcut Menu Method and Customizing a Shortcut Menu Using Dynamic Verbs.

Quoting from this Visual Basic Shell Programming book excerpt:

Finally, if you want proof that the file is actually being read by WinRAR's shell extension DLL (since you seem to doubt it), here are the various ReadFile calls registered by Process Monitor on simply right-clicking a WinRAR SFX:

Hope that puts your doubts to rest. :) As for your second question about whether extensions have "less importance" now and lack "any influence in context menu[s]", I don't understand what you mean. Even image/video thumbnails are generated by shell extension handlers (DLLs). A list of different handlers can be found here. As you can see, it's possible to have custom shell extension handlers for everything ranging from shortcut menus, drag & drop operations, icons, icon overlays, property sheets, thumbnails, infotips, metadata, Explorer columns, copy/move/delete/rename dialogs, search...

Edit: Coincidentally, Raymond Chen happened to post an article about shell extensions today as well (don't forget to read the previous one too).

Quoting from this Visual Basic Shell Programming book excerpt:

Finally, if you want proof that the file is actually being read by WinRAR's shell extension DLL (since you seem to doubt it), here's are the various ReadFile calls registered by Process Monitor on simply right-clicking a WinRAR SFX:

Hope that puts your doubts to rest. :) As for your second question about whether extensions have "less importance" now and lack "any influence in context menu[s]", I don't understand what you mean. Even image/video thumbnails are generated by shell extension handlers (DLLs). A list of different handlers can be found here. As you can see, it's possible to have custom shell extension handlers for everything ranging from shortcut menus, drag & drop operations, icons, icon overlays, property sheets, thumbnails, infotips, metadata, Explorer columns, copy/move/delete/rename dialogs, search...

Edit: Coincidentally, Raymond Chen happened to post an article about shell extensions today as well (don't forget to read the previous one too).

Quoting from this Visual Basic Shell Programming book excerpt:

Finally, if you want proof that the file is actually being read by WinRAR's shell extension DLL (since you seem to doubt it), here are the various ReadFile calls registered by Process Monitor on simply right-clicking a WinRAR SFX:

Hope that puts your doubts to rest. :) As for your second question about whether extensions have "less importance" now and lack "any influence in context menu[s]", I don't understand what you mean. Even image/video thumbnails are generated by shell extension handlers (DLLs). A list of different handlers can be found here. As you can see, it's possible to have custom shell extension handlers for everything ranging from shortcut menus, drag & drop operations, icons, icon overlays, property sheets, thumbnails, infotips, metadata, Explorer columns, copy/move/delete/rename dialogs, search...

Edit: Coincidentally, Raymond Chen happened to post an article about shell extensions today as well (don't forget to read the previous one too).

Hope that puts your doubts to rest. :) As for your second question about whether extensions have "less importance" now and lack "any influence in context menu[s]", I don't understand what you mean. Even image/video thumbnails are generated by shell extension handlers (DLLs). A list of different handlers can be found here. As you can see, it's possible to have custom shell extension handlers for everything ranging from shortcut menus, drag & drop operations, icons, icon overlays, property sheets, thumbnails, infotips, metadata, Explorer columns, copy/move/delete/rename dialogs, search...

Hope that puts your doubts to rest. :) As for your second question about whether extensions have "less importance" now and lack "any influence in context menu[s]", I don't understand what you mean. Even image/video thumbnails are generated by shell extension handlers (DLLs). A list of different handlers can be found here. As you can see, it's possible to have custom shell extension handlers for everything ranging from shortcut menus, drag & drop operations, icons, icon overlays, property sheets, thumbnails, infotips, metadata, Explorer columns, copy/move/delete/rename dialogs, search...

Edit: Coincidentally, Raymond Chen happened to post an article about shell extensions today as well (don't forget to read the previous one too).