Disabling VLC's font caching

http://superuser.com/questions/189681/can-you-disable-vlcs-font-cache

Have a machine that the VLC font cache generates each time it starts?  Some methods to try:
1) Tools, Preferences, Show Settings All, Video, Subtitles, Text Rendering Module, select "Dummy font renderer function".
2) Delete the cache file in %appdata%\vlc
3) Delete or rename vlc-cache-gen.exe in the %ProgramFiles%\VLC folder.

seeing hidden objects in Device Manager

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539

1. At a command prompt, type the following command , and then press ENTER:
   set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
2. Type the following command a command prompt, and then press ENTER:
   start devmgmt.msc
   
   

TreeComp files compare

http://lploeger.home.xs4all.nl/TreeComp.htm

TreeComp compares two directory trees, based on size/date/contents/attribute.

Stop Windows XP from searching ZIP and CAB files

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_w.htm#z

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article03-202
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/nofindinsidezip.htm

It can take quite a while longer if Windows includes inside compressed files while searching.  The common way to remove this capability:
regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll

  regsvr32 /u cabview.dll

After each command you should see a RegSvr32 dialog box "DllUnregisterServer in (the).dll succeeded."

You will lose all  built-in Windows capabilities for ZIP and CAB files, so you may look into 7-Zip, WinZIP, or WinRAR as an alternative for working with these files.  If  you want to add one or both of these capabilities back later:
regsvr32 zipfldr.dll

  regsvr32 cabview.dll

There is another nice solution, a program called NoFindInsideZip, which appears to set the "Attributes"  registry values to zero in the following keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0CD7A5C0-9F37-11CE-AE65-08002B2E1262}\ShellFolder

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E88DCCE0-B7B3-11d1-A9F0-00AA0060FA31}\ShellFolder
(Note: You may have to copy and paste these keys to see them.)

These are the same keys noted in the fix for Vista, but this program may be specific to XP.