Safe to Remove Hardware Dialog Missing

Frustratingly, I could not find a solution to the problem outlined in KB 883517, even after installing the hotfix (for me, it was available from the computer manufacturer in a file called "Windows XP Update Modules").

The problem was that Balloon Tips were disabled. To enable Balloon Tips, go to the Taskbar and Start Menu section of Tweak UI. The option took effect right away, and the "It is now safe to remove your hardware" dialog reappeared.

Smart Defragging by Layout.ini for Free

By default, Windows XP tracks what files load during boot and application launches, and it uses that information to prefetch files into RAM. Additionally, the prefetch data are parsed into a file, %WINDIR%\Prefetch\layout.ini, which is used by XP's built-in Disk Defragmenter to optimize the layout of those files on the hard drive for faster access. Also, by default, a limited defrag operation takes place in the background during idle every three days just for the files specified in layout.ini. You might get a bigger performance benefit, however, but running by defragging by layout.ini more often. The command to do this layout.ini defrag is defrag c: -b. The "-b" switch is almost undocumented, and might have originally meant "boot", but it relocates boot and application launch files contiguously and nearer to the beginning of the hard drive for faster access. Since it moves only hundreds of files instead of tens of thousands, it's much faster than a normal disk defragmentation. If you want, you can make a Scheduled Task to run defrag c: -b however often you like (I have Scheduled Task to run this quick defrag every day during idle). If you want to additionally disable the 3-day operation, uncheck "Optimize hard drive when idle" in Tweak UI (or set EnableAutoLayout to 0 in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OptimalLayout ).

You will still need to defragment the hard drive from time to time. It is most effective to do so before the desktop loads. The utility ScanDefrag is very useful in that regard. A normal defragmentation with Disk Defragmenter includes optimizations guided by layout.ini.

Some otherwise really excellent defrag utilities will actually undo the defrag by layout.ini. (Windows XP Disk Defragmenter respects layout.ini.) For normal desktop/workstation use, the Windows defragmenter is best IMHO.

NB: For this tip to work, you need the default registry entries below:

Key Name: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction
Name: Enable
Type: REG_SZ
Value: Y
I believe this enables Disk Defragmenter to respect layout.ini.

Key Name: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
Name: EnablePrefetcher
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 3
0 = Prefetching Disabled; 1 = Application Prefetching Only; 2 = Boot Prefetching Only; 3 = Both Boot & Application Prefetching Enabled

PS Running Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks will rebuild Layout.ini from the prefetch data and then (if EnableAutoLayout is set to 1) optimize layout on the disk from the refreshed layout.ini. The command also launches other tasks that happen during idle, such as System Restore.

Restore the Startup Folder

I had a problem with a program shortcut in my Startup folder that would launch with an error that the program was already loaded. I figured out that not only was the shortcut in the Startup folder for "All Users" but that my user account Startup folder was also considered to be that same "All Users" folder (%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup) [I'm using the universal direction here. You can type %ALLUSERSPROFILE% and %USERPROFILE% into the Run box in the Start Menu to find the specific absolute paths for your system]. In effect, everything in the Startup folder would launch twice: once for "All Users" and again just for my account, even though it was the same folder.

To fix this, I created new folders: %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs and %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup which were missing. I then used RegEdit to go to the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders and made sure the values Start Menu, Programs, and Startup pointed to the folders in my user account folder and not the All Users folder. Now, my Common Startup and user Startup folders were different.

Related: in Regedit, use String values [REG_SZ] for absolute paths (e.g.: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator) and Expandable String values [REG_EXPAND_SZ] for the %-style paths (e.g. %USERPROFILE%).

Reference: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

UPDATE: You can also use Tweak UI to adjust user shell folders. This is useful in the case above, or if you want to make an adjustment such as keeping "My Documents" and the Desktop folder on the same drive. Within Tweak UI, the user shell folders setting is in My Computer-Special Folders.