Windows Vista only: Ultimate Windows Tweaker makes no bones about its source of inspiration—the uber-specific, XP-customising Microsoft tool TweakUI—and does pretty well by it. There's more than 130 changes to make from this stand-alone, no-install utility, including some seriously helpful User Account Control hacks and sliding timers for application killing, along with all the other tweaks for menus, Explorer, and shortcuts TweakUI users will find familiar. Another great feature: A big, prominent "Create System Restore Point" button to hit before you get to tweaking, which is always a good idea. Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a free download for Windows Vista systems (32- and 64-bit) only. Thanks, How-To Geek!

You've just finished carefully control-selecting all those files you need to move off your desktop and into a container folder, and then, one hand slip later, you have twice as many to deal with. The How-To Geek finds the fix, both inside Microsoft's Swiss-Army-Fixer, TweakUI, and in two registry values you can find inside the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop key. Change DragHeight and DragWidth to somewhere North of 10, and you'll get far fewer accidental copies. Hit the link for a pre-compiled fix and detailed instructions.

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One of the best tools for fine-tuning Windows XP is the free TweakUI PowerToy utility from Microsoft. TweakUI digs deep into Windows' settings and can customise its behaviour in dozens of ways, from how many icons appear on the Alt-Tab dialog to Explorer context menu choices to what your program shortcuts look like. TweakUI's been around forever and we've mentioned it here and there throughout the years at Lifehacker, but it's high time we gave it the full walkthrough it deserves. After the jump, take a gander at 15 useful adjustments you can make to your XP system with TweakUI.

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