Make Vista More Like XP

Issue:
You hate the Vista interface and want it to be more like XP. Here is how to do it.

Quick/Visual/Learning:
The text below is just the meat from this Post from the TechRepublic site.
Note to be careful as always with any registry edits.

---Text from link---

Disable User Access Control (UAC)
1. Access the Control Panel and select Classic View.
2. Locate and click User Accounts.
3. Select the Turn User Account Control on or off and respond appropriately to the UAC.
4. Clear the Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer.
5. Click OK.
6. Restart Windows

Disable Notificatin Ballons
1. Access the Run dialog box, type Regedit in the Open text box, and click OK.
2. Locate the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced Click on the right-hand pane.
3. Pull down the Edit menu and select the New DWORD (32-bit) Value command
4. Name the new key EnableBalloonTips.
5. Make sure the value is set to 0.
6. Click OK.
7. Log off and then back on.

Disable Windows Defender
1. Access Windows Defender on the Start All Programs menu.
2. Click the Tools button.
3. Click Options in the Settings section.
4. Clear the following check boxes:
a. Automatically scan my computer.
b. Use real-time protection.
c. Scan the contents of archived files and folders for potential threats
d. Use heuristics to detect potentially harmful or unwanted behavior by software that hasn’t been analyzed for risks.
e. Create a restore point before applying actions to detected items.
f. Use Windows Defender.
5. Click Save.
6. Access the Run dialog box, type Services.msc in the Open text box, and click OK.
7. Locate and click the Windows Defender service.
8. Select Disabled in the Startup type drop down, click the Stop button, and then click OK.

Disable TCP/IPv6 and Topology Discovery Mapper
1. Access the Control Panel.
2. Click Network and Sharing Center.
3. Select Manage network connections in the Tasks pane.
4. Right click on Local Area Connection/Wireless Network Connection and select Properties.
5. Clear the Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) check box.
6. Clear the Link Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver check box.
7. Clear the Link Layer Topology Discovery Mapper Responder check box.
8. Click OK.
9. Access the Run dialog box, type Services.msc in the Open text box, and click OK.
10. Locate and click the Link Layer Topology Discovery Mapper service.
11. Select Disabled in the Startup type drop down, and if it is started, click the Stop button.
12. Click OK

Turn off special Vista features
1. Access the Control Panel.
2. Click Programs and Features.
3. Select Turn Windows Features on or off in the Tasks pane.
4. Clear the check boxes adjacent to any Vista options in your version that are turned on. For example:
a. Expand the Games branch and clear the check boxes next to all of the Vista games such as Chess Titans, Ink Ball, Mahjong Titans, or Purble Place.
b. Expand the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 branch and clear the check box next to XPS Viewer.
c. Expand the Print Services branch and clear Internet Printing Client check box.
d. Clear the Remote Differential Compression check box.
e. Clear the Tablet PC Optional Components check box.
f. Clear the Windows DFS Replication Service check box.
g. Clear the Windows Meeting Space check box.
h. Clear the Windows Ultimate Extras check box.
5. Click OK and wait for the features to be turned off.
6. Restart Windows


Disable Automatic Defragging
1. Access Disk Defragmenter (StartAll ProgramsAccessoriesSystem Tools)
2. Clear the Run on a schedule check box.
3. Click OK.


Enable the Explorer menu bar
1. Access the Control Panel.
2. Click Folder Options.
3. Select the View tab.
4. Select the Always show menus check box.
5. Click OK.


Disable the new Start menu
1. Right-click the Start button and choose Properties.
2. Select the Classic Start menu option
3. Click OK.


Disable the Taskbar thumbnails
1. Right click the Taskbar and choose Properties.
2. Clear the Show window previews check box.
3. Click OK.


Disable the Sidebar
1. Right-click in the Sidebar and choose Properties.
2. Clear the Start Sidebar when Windows starts check box.
3. Click OK.
4. Right-click in the Sidebar again and choose Close Sidebar.


Disable Visual Effects
1. Access the Control Panel.
2. Locate and click System.
3. Select Advanced System Settings in the Tasks pane.
4. Click the Settings button in the Performance panel.
5. On the Visual Effects tab, select the Custom option, and clear every check box in the list.
6. Click OK.


Disable Aero
1. Access the Run dialog box, type Services.msc in the Open text box, and click OK.
2. Locate and click the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager service.
3. Select Disabled in the Startup type drop down, click the Stop button, and then click OK.
---End Text from link---

Another link on restoring the XP backup utility on Vista Restore a lost feature and install XP's Backup Utility into Windows Vista