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I HATE balloons

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9 replies

by jfowler

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Does anybody know how to shut down (once and for all!!) those damned annoying pop up balloons in Windows XP?
Fer instance; My cursor hovers momentarily over the Excel icon in the Quick Start area and instantly "Microsoft Excel 2003. Perform calculations,analyze information,and manage lists in spreadsheets or web pages using Microsoft Office Excel." pops up. Like I don't know what Excel (or whatever) is for. They're annoying, condecending, unnecessary, and just plain in the way.
I want to shut this noise off permanently. The proper hack would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

9 replies

by dc_guy

Every time I get near the scrolling arrowheads, a balloon pops up in the lower right corner of my screen telling me something about the status of a company-standard product that's installed on my computer but I never use. I covers up the arrows for several seconds.

I too am awaiting a fix for this.

There's a similar problem on OS/X. When you try to manipulate data very close to the bottom edge of the screen, the docking bar pops up and overlays everything. Many times I couldn't stop my finger from clicking the mouse, and I ended up opening a new program instead of selecting the text in my document.

by jfowler

This has been a pet peeve of mine with every OS M$ comes up with, but it's doubly annoying in XP.
I have tried both registry and group policy edits, and nothing seems to work.
When it comes to stability XP just cannot be beaten (in Windows anyway), but the user interface is the most annoyingly condecending yet.
Hey Microsoft, if you're gonna label something as "Professional", how about treating the users like non-neophytes, OK?

by madcow9597

Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\ Advanced

Name: EnableBalloonTips
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0

Navigate through the Registry (Regedit or Regedt32) I hope you know how to get to the registry. If not do not attempt this.

Add the above Dword with the above value.

Come back and post your problem is you have one.

by jfowler

Tried that earlier... didn't have the desired effect. (Checked it again anyway, current value O, Base; Hexadecimal.)

by jdclyde

format c:\
The cure-all for all windows problems.

Not much of a help am I? Hey, if even one of you smiled, my work here is done....

Quit taking things so seriously.

Have a great day!

by rp1987

That will in fact solve the problem nicely and permanently. I had a somewhat similar solution. It's a UCR kit at Home Depot. (Universal Computer Repair kit.) It's guaranteed to fix all computer related problems permanently. However, I suggest you hurry, at 13.99 price, the 12 pound sledgehammers will not last long!

by gpmcdonald

1. Goto Control Panel
2. Click Folder Options (in the classic view)
3. Click the View tab
4. Unselect the Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items option (Its the next to the last item in the list)
5. Click OK

by jfowler

Thanks for the heads up.
However, the task bar and system tray still remain unaffected.
They're not making this one easy.

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