Its a mixed bag.. a compilation of all the tricks..

many tricks are what i discovered..

many are shared ..
keep posting if u know more
Display Your Quick Launch ToolbarTip:
Is your Quick Launch toolbar missing from the taskbar?
To display your familiar Quick Launch toolbar:
Right-click an empty area on the taskbar, click Toolbars, and then click Quick L
aunch.
Easy as that your Quick Launch bar appears. To add items to your Quick Launch to
olbar, click the icon for the program you want to add, and drag it to the Quick
Launch portion of the taskbar.

How to remove recycle bin from your desktop Tip:

Open Regedit by going to START
RUN and type Regedit and hit enter. Then you shou
ld navigate to following entry in registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft
\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} and delete it. This act
ion should remove recycle bin from your desktop.

How to stop new programs installed balloon from coming up tip:

Right click on START button and select properties. Click on Customize and go to
Advanced tab and deselect check box saying Highlight newly installed programs . Thi
s would help you stop this annoying feature from popping up every now and then.

Unlock Toolbars to Customize Them Tip:

The new Windows XP now features locking toolbars, and you can adjust them. You m
ay customize a lot of the Windows XP features such as the Taskbar, Start Menu, a
nd even toolbar icons in Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Remember your ri
ght-click:
* Right-click on a toolbar, and then click Lock the Toolbars to remove the check
mark.
* Right-click on the toolbar again, and then click Customize.
You may add or remove toolbar buttons, change text options and icon options. Whe
n you ve got the toolbar customized, click Close. Now right-click on the toolbar a
nd then click Lock the Toolbars to lock them in place. com

Want to remove shared documents folder from My Computer window tip:

Some don t like my shared documents folder option. If you are one of that, here is
a trick to remove it.Open registry editor by going to START-RUN and entering re

gedit.
Once in registry, navigate to key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Wi
ndows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ My Computer \ NameSpace \ DelegateFolders Yo
u must see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. If you delete
this key, you have effectively removed the my shared documents folder.

How to improve on shutdown time ? Close apps automatically & quickly at shutdown
tip:
Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT
_USER\CONTROL PANEL\DESKTOP and look for AutoEndTasks. On my computer default va
lue is 0. Change it to 1. Thats all. Further more you can reduce the time it tak
es for Windows to issue kill directive to all active/hung applications.
In doing this only constraint that you should make sure exists is that HungAppTi
meout is greater than WaitToKillAppTimeout. Change the values of WaitToKillAppTi
meout to say 3500 (since default value for HungAppTimeout 5000 and for WaitToKil
lAppTimeout is 20000)
Are you missing icons Tip:
Are you missing icons? You may be wondering where all the icons from your deskto
p are in Windows XP? Well if you re like me, you like to have at least My Computer
, My Network Places, and My Documents on the your desktop.
You need to:
* Right-click on the desktop, and then click Properties.
* Click the Desktop tab and then click on Customize Desktop.
* Put a check mark in the box next to My Document, My Computer, My Network Place
s, or Internet Explorer, to add those familiar icons to your desktop. Easy yes!

How to login as administrator if you don t see it available tip:

Unless and until you have run into issues and fixing XP (underwhich case you hav
e to go to Safe Mode to login as Administrator), you can get to administrator sc
reen by simply pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE twice at the main screen.

Speedup boot up sequence by defragmenting all key boot files tip:

Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_M
ACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction. In right hand panel look fo
r Enable. Right click on it and set it Y for enable. This is the way I have it set
on my computer. This will help speedup boot time.
Use a Shortcut to Local Area Network Connection Information:

Use a Shortcut to Local Area Network Connection Information Tip:

Here s something new in Windows XP, instead of using the command line program and

typing ipconfig to get local area network information, you can try using the fol
lowing shortcut:
* Click on Start, point to Connect to, and then click Show All Connections.
* Right click the connection you want information about, and then click Status.
* In the connection Properties dialog box, click the Support tab.
* For more information, click on the Advanced tab.
To automatically enable the status monitor each time the connection is active, i
n the connection Properties dialog box, select the Show icon in taskbar notifica
tion area when connected check box.

Do you know you can have Virtual Desktops (like in Linux) with PowerToys ?
If you have powertoys installed on Windows XP Its available for free at Microsof
t download webpage. It is very easy to enable Microsoft Virtual Desktop Feature.
Simply right click on the Start Panel Bar also called TaskBar, Click on Tool Ba
r and select Desktop manager.
You would see a set of 5 icons placed on the right portion of the TAskBar. Click
on number 1 to 4 to go to any of the desktops. Now you have have four different
Active Desktops.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You may see a little degradation in performance.

Customize Internet. Explorer Title bar tip:

This tip won t make your computer any faster but may help personalize your compute
r experience. Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate t
o HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet. Explorer\Main. In right hand pa
nel look for string Window Title and change its value to whatever custom text you
want to see.
adding content to Right click credit : ashwin C1
Once done, you will be able to right click any file or folder and use the Browse
for Folder dialog to choose the location you want to move or copy your file or
folder to, without having to go to the destination path.
First we will add the copy and move options to the right click menu of all FILES
.
CLICK Start>Run, type REGEDIT and click OK to open up the registry editor and ma
ke your way to this key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT->*->shellex->ContextMenuHandlers
Right click the ContextMenuHandlers key and choose New>Key.
Name the new key Copy To (without the quotes).
Repeat the above and create another new key named Move To.
You should now have two new subkeys under the ContextMenuHandlers key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT->*->shellex->ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT->*->shellex->ContextMenuHandlers\Move To
Select the Copy To key and in the right hand pane, double click Default
Enter this clsid value as the value data:
{C2FBB630-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}
Next , select the Move To key and in the right hand pane set the default value t
o:
{C2FBB631-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}
This now takes care of the Copy and Move options for the right click context men
u of all your files.

Now all that is left is to add the same options to the right click menu of all y
our folders.
The procedure will be the same as for files but at a different key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHan dlers
Right click ContextMenuHandlers and create a new key named Copy To.
Right click it again and create another new key named Move To.
left click on the right hand pane, add the same default values as you did for Fi
les:
For Copy To:
{C2FBB630-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}
For the Move To:
{C2FBB631-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}
Exit the registry and you are done.
Now when you right click on a file or folder, you should see two new options: Co
py to Folder and Move to Folder