Background
There are many default XP settings that actually can be tuned to better customize your OS!
Recommendation
You can do this using one of the many PowerToys utilities that Microsoft made available for free. They only apply to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, but are quite interesting. For UI tweaking you should love TweakUI. The Resizer utility is great too for users who often resize pictures and would love doing this in just a few clicks right from Windows Explorer.
Web links
TweakUI and other PowerToys
Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx
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