Tips for making WinXP look and feel just like Win2K

[PreDatoR]

how many people use your laptop? if its just you why go through all fo the trouble?

[FlyingPenguin]

He's sharing files.

[CaterpillarAssassin]

Well when I leave it out the family uses it at will. So I'd like to have customization of user settings, like not being able to install stuff, etc. And also I am sharing files on the network.

[FlyingPenguin]

FINAL TIP FOR GAMERS:

The mouse feels laggy in XP when playing Half-Life or Quake3 engine games. Here's the fix:

Add this to the command line of your HL.

-noforcemparms -noforcemaccel

This should clear up any of the issues.

For Quake 3:

+_windowed_mouse 1 -dinput

Also if you're using the Intellipoint software, click Task Manager, click the processes tab, look for point32.exe, right click that, click set priority, and click High.

You need to do this each time you boot unless you use the Win Launcher which allows you to set the priority automatically when any apps running:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/article.php?sid=870

[CaterpillarAssassin]

OK Just installed pro and I still csnnot change user permissions any more than limited and admin. WTF is up with that?

[FlyingPenguin]

If you're running Pro make sure you you have simple file sharing disabled:
http://tweakxp.com/tweakxp/display.asp?id=325

Then go to Control Panel->Admin Tools->Computer Management->Local Users and Groups->Users and set your user levels there just like you would in Win2K.

I think I understand now why you've been having problems. You've been trying to set user levels in the User Accounts wizard in Control Panel right? That's only for basic logon permisions. You have to use the advanced User setup as explained above for anything more detailed.

[FlyingPenguin]

Well my fix listed above for forcing XP to remember all my Explorer windows sizes stopped working and I foudn out why. I have XP set to spawn a new window for every explorer view (it's the way I work). Once Xp memorizes the sizes for 400 explorer windows it stops after that.

Here's the fix I found on the newsgroups and it seems to be working so far:


- HOW TO FIX THE PROBLEM OF WINDOWS XP LOSING WINDOW POSITIONS AND VIEW SETTINGS

By default XP only stores Window positions and views for the last 400 folders (or
windows) which means that once this is exceeded, new folders will not store their
last positions or correct settings. To get round this, run Regedit and delete these
two keys :

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags

Then add the following lines which will make the 400 limit
increase to 1000 - should be enough for normal use.

Run Regedit, find these two keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam

Add this new DWORD value under BOTH above keys:BagMRUSize (with size 1000 decimal)

Then reboot.