Here's a few random tricks that I found here and there, please add to the list The quotes are because I just copied and pasted from wherever I found them.
 
Autoplay OFF:
 
"Registry setting can be changed to disable autorun:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom
change "autorun" to 0 (zero)"
 
Command line auto-complete:
 
"Now here's a cool NT hack that I hadn't seen. If you're a big command line fiend, and you want to turn on TAB completion under NT4 or Win2K, open up the registry to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER:Software:Microsoft:
CommandProcessor:CompletionChar, and set its DWORD value to a decimal "9." This'll let you enter in the first few characters of a directory name and hit TAB to complete the rest. Rockin'!"
 
To start Windows Explorer in C:
 
"Change the shortcut command line to have the command switch, "/e, c:\" after
the file name."
 
Speed up IE:
 
This was posted on Ars Technica by Darkseid, a lot of people say it works, but since I'm on cable it doesn't help that much (should help modems/DSL I guess). It increases the max. number of connections allowed on the web.
 
"5) Speed Up IE4 and 5--- But At Your Own Risk!
 
I had a long internal debate with myself about bringing you this
tweak. On the plus side, it can significantly speed the loading of
complex web pages--- Internet Explorer will load these pages *much,
much* faster. But the downside is that the tweak makes IE non-
compliant with the spec. If you employ this tweak, you'll be
making your browser nonstandard.
 
The HTTP 1.1 spec limits the number of simultaneous connections any
one browser can make to a given server. It's a way to ensuring there
are enough connections to go around. This IE tweak turns off IE's
built-in compliance with this standard, and lets your copy of IE open
far more simultaneous connections with a server. This means your
browser can grab many chunks of a web page at one time, speeding load
times. But it also makes your browser a connections "pig," consuming
more than its fair share of server connectivity. It makes your
browser a selfish net entity.
 
But this tweak is public knowledge now--- reader John Collins dug it
out of the Microsoft Knowledge Base, for example (thanks, John!)---
so I'll tell you about it, with a caveat.
 
This tweak can be useful as a temporary setting, or for
troubleshooting. But I do NOT recommend it as a permanent thing. Slow
web pages are usually caused by something other than the number of
allowable connections. (Look at my newly-tweaked www.langa.com
to see how fast pages can load with no browser weirdness at all, for
example.)
 
But if you want the tweak and aren't concerned about taking more than
your share of connectivity, here are John's instructions:
 
In Windows 2000:
1. Open Regedit (Start---Run--- and type 'regedit' [without
quotes] )
 
2. Navigate to the following folder:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\InternetSettings
 
3. Find the keys that say:
MaxConnectionsPerServer
and
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
 
4. Change the value of both keys to some higher number
 
= DS ADDITION =
add them as NEW STRINGS,
I set the value for 8, and 10 respectively ...
= end addition =
 
 
In Windows 9.x
1. Open Regedit (Start---Run--- and type 'regedit' [without
quotes] )
 
2. Navigate to the following folder:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\InternetSettings
 
3. Create the following "DWORD" :
MaxConnectionsPerServer
 
4. Set the value to any high number (the default is 2)
 
5. Creat the following "DWORD"
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
 
6.Set the value to any high number as well (the default is 4)
 
More explanation: See
support.microsoft.com/sup...ALLKB&FR=0"
 
So anyone else found any neat tricks that make W2K run more like you think it should?