Just installed XP....how do I stop a couple annoying things.

[lordhutt]

I just installed XP pro with SP2.

This will not be hooked up to the net so I don't need firewall or virus protection or automatic updates.

I have the updates turned off. Every reboot I get the 'your pc might be at risk windows updates off' bubble.
How can I stop this from coming up?...I know updates are off, I turned them off

I have my inactive icons hidden. I also keep getting a bubble for this on startup. 'hiding your inactive icons' then I have to click on it to get rid of it.

Also when I open up windows explorer I want all my folders collapsed. I just want my computer tree opened to see all my hard drives.
I don't want the stupid documents and settings folder tree opened up since I don't use MS my documents folders.
Can I make it so this folder is collapsed when I open WE.

Speaking of the my documents folders MS tries to force on us. Is there a way if I am using MS Word to change the default save directory. I usually don't even save my word files to my main hard drive let alone to the my documents folders on it.

Thanks for any help.
-Andy

[reboot]

http://www.annoyances.org/

[waheed]

Thanks for the link reboot. Has some useful information i needed to know.

[reboot]

And probably a lot more, as time goes on, of things you want to mess with

[lordhutt]

I did'nt really see answers to the questions I asked....but I found out some other interesting things.
Thanks for the URL!!

[reboot]

I'm positive that stuff is there...
If not:

Get Rid of Unwanted Balloon Tips
Open up the Registry Editor and expand the tree to display the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced

Then, created a new DWORD value named EnableBalloonTips and set it to 0x00000000.
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Open Explorer somewhere instead of My Documents

If you're running alot of HDDs, or alot of partitions or both
I find it horribly annoying to have to expand the My Computer tree in the left panel of Windows Explorer, and perfer to navigate without having to do that. This tweak can actually be applied to open by default to any drive or even folder you can figure the shortcut to for My Computer.

RClick the Windows Explorer Icon > Properties > In the target box you should appear > %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe

add to that > /e,::{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d}

so the whole entry would be >
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,::{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d}
Apply > OK

other shortcuts
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,c:
will explore C:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,c:\Program Files
would open to all the program folders

it can even be opened to a different drive and a folder quite deep in the hierarchy

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,G:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\ARK

that happens to be a folder on a parallel OS install on a seperate drive (G) as viewed from this OS install
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To change your default document folder in Microsoft Word, follow the appropriate steps:

Microsoft Word for Windows
By default, Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003 save documents in the My Documents folder, located in the root directory. To change the default folder, follow these steps:

From the Tools menu, select Options... .
Select the File Locations tab.
Select Documents from the list, and click Modify... .
Type the name of the new directory or browse to it. Click OK to make the change.
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got all this from a quick google. Took me less than 2 minutes, including copy, pasted, edit, and hit Reply here. Try it some time

[Soopafresh]

http://www.theorica.net/download.htm

SafeXP will make it easier for you.

[lordhutt]

Thanks again reboot. Everything is great except one thing.
...I even did some googling of my own this time but still did'nt get exactly what I want

Using your win explorer method it worked fine if I open explorer by hitting start...allprograms...accessories...windows explorer. But I dont open explorer like that I just right click start and hit explore.

**update**
....ok, I just went to start,programs,accessoris,and created a shortcut of winexp. and place it into my quicklaunch bar.
So now I have a 1 click method to get exactly what I want.

But just out of curiosity I would like to know how this can be achieved if I want to right click start and hit explore.
So far I can't get it this way without the my doc. folder being expanded.

Thanks for all your help.
-Andy

BTW: Soopafresh, I appreciate the link but I would rather be able to do it without additional software.

[thecoalman]

http://www.blackviper.com/

[BobK]

Speaking of the my documents folders MS tries to force on us. Is there a way if I am using MS Word to change the default save directory.

Just right click on the 'My Folders' icon (either on the desktop or start button) and change the target to whatever folder you want.