Give Windows a totally different look

Microsoft has been experimenting a lot with flat buttons and all different kinds of 3D looks.
This tweak introduces a new kind of flat look for buttons and menus and the like.
Certainly worth trying!
The tweak

Go to the registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Colors

Look for the following values:

ButtonHilight
ButtonShadow

These values will probably exist. If not, create them as REG_SZ values.

Set ButtonHilight to the following value:

128 128 128

and set ButtonShadow to the following value:

255 255 255

As you will see this comes down to swapping these values.

You will need to restart or log off for the new settings to take effect.

Increase 20% of broadband connection (Essential)

Microsoft reserve 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes
(suspect for updates and interrogating your machine etc..)

Here's how to get it back:

Click Start-->Run-->type "gpedit.msc" without the ""

This opens the group policy editor. Then go to:

Local Computer Policy-->Computer Configuration-->Administrative Templates-->Network-->QOS Packet Scheduler-->Limit Reservable Bandwidth

Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab :

"By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."

So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.
Works on XP Pro and 2000.