The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
Windows XP Beginners Tutorial
John Campbell		  

John Campbell has put together a few tips for beginners, commencing with how to remove those annoying balloon tips.

Balloon Tips

Some users find “Balloon Tips” intrusive. They can occur on your Taskbar and in the Start menu.

Disabling Balloon Tips

There are two ways you can remove this annoyance. The first method is from within Windows XP itself.
The second method uses an add-on program, TweakUI, available from Microsoft Web site http://www.microsoft.com.
 



Figure 1. Balloon Tips Example 1



Figure 2. Balloon Tips Example 2

Removing Balloon Tips from within Windows XP

  1. Open the Start menu and select Search. See Figure 3.



    2. Figure 3. XP Search window
  2. When the Search window opens, in the left side window pane select Change Preferences. Figure 4.



    3. Figure 4. Change preferences button

  3. The Search window changes, displaying “How do you want to use Search Companion?” in the left hand window pane. The default setting is “Show balloon tips”.


  4. Click on the option “Show balloon tips”. The window changes and you revert to the original Search window.



    5. Figure 5. Change preferences options displaying the default "Show balloon tips"


  5. To check that you have made this change, click on the Change Preferences button once more. You will now see it set to “Don't show balloon tips”.

  6. Close the Search window by clicking the X button.

Removing Balloon Tips Using TweakUI

Once you install TweakUI, open it. It contains two window panes.
  1. In the left hand window pane, select Taskbar and Start Menu. See Figure 6.



    2. Figure 6. TweakUI window


  2. In the right hand window pane labelled “Settings”, you will see the box Enable balloon tips checked. See Figure 7.
     
  3. Click on this box to disable this feature. See Figure 8.



    4. Figure 7. Taskbar and Start Menu option with
    "Enable balloon tips" checked



    Figure 8. Unchecked balloon tips.

  4. Click the Apply button followed by the OK button.


Automatic Error Reporting

By default, Windows XP has Error Reporting enabled. This irritating feature asks you to report any program errors or malfunctions (See Figure 9). For many users this is another inconvenience.
 



Figure 9. Example of Error Report

Removing Automatic Error Reporting

  1. Open Control Panel.


  2. Select System. The System Properties window opens. See Figure 10 below.


  3. Click the tab labelled Advanced. The Advanced window opens. In the lower section of the advanced window, click the button labelled Error Reporting.

  4. The Error Reporting window will open. Click the radio button labelled Disable Error Reporting and select whether or not you wish to be notified of critical errors. Click OK to close.



Figure 10. System Properties window

Mixed Up Shortcuts in the All Programs Menu

Whenever you install a new application, Windows XP adds its shortcut to the All Programs menu in the Start menu. Unfortunately, Windows places any new additions at the end of this list. This means you can end up with a mixture of Application folders and Application shortcuts in no particular order. See Figure 11.



Figure 11. Mixed up folder and application shortcuts.

Re-ordering All Programs in your Start Menu

You can sort them into alphabetical order (ie. the application folder shortcuts followed by the individual application shortcuts), by doing the following:

  1. Open the Start menu.

  2. Select All Programs.


  3. Right click on any application shortcut (not a folder as that would open a side menu). A right-click menu appears. Select Sort by Name. See Figure 12.

    4.  



    Figure 12. Right click menu



    Figure 13. The All Programs menu sorted

  4. Windows then sorts the menu in alphabetical order. See Figure 13 above.

Tip! You can “re-order” your Internet (Web site) shortcuts in Internet Explorer’s Favorites menu using the same technique. See Figure 14 below.
 



Figure 14. Sorting the Internet Explorer Favorites menu.

Reprinted from the May 2005 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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