On several different machines, each running Windows, the right-click to create a new text document option is not available. I don’t know if it is a service pack related issue or version of Windows or an application that was installed that caused this annoyance. I am leaning against it being the cause of the operating system as one system is running Windows Vista (32-bit) and the other two Windows XP Professional SP2(32-bit). After a little research, I found two great resolutions. One for Microsoft Windows Vista and the other for Microsoft Windows XP.

Microsoft Windows XP registry fix (source)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt]
"Content Type"="text/plain"
@="txtfile"
"PerceivedType"="text"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\OpenWithList]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\PersistentHandler]
@="{5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\shell\open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\shell\open\command]
@="notepad.exe %1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\ShellNew]
"NullFile"=""

Microsoft Windows Vista registry fix (source)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt]
"Content Type"="text/plain"
"PerceivedType"="text"
@="txtfile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\PersistentHandler]
@="{5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\ShellNew]
"ItemName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,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,\
00,6e,00,6f,00,74,00,65,00,70,00,61,00,64,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,2c,00,\
2d,00,34,00,37,00,30,00,00,00
"NullFile"=""