Disabling the "fancy" stuff in Windows Explorer?

Good Morning.

I've used all major Windows OSs and am familiar with them all but Win98SE's
Windows Explorer remains my favourite, hands-down. It has the nicest blend
of functionality and aesthetics, without going so cutesy as XP, than all the
others -- _for_me_. I had a response to something completely unrelated in
another ng a few months back where someone made a comment that we could turn
off a lot of that fluff in XP. I've searched and searched in various XP ng
archives and did a general google for this but I haven't come across
anything particularly helpful.

1) i.e., how can we turn off that trotting puppy in the search? Also, is
there a way to not have to go through so many screens when searching? That
drives me nuts. I much prefer the search in Win98SE; it's utilitarian and
functional and gets the job done. I often have to click through several
options in XP's and that, too, drives me nuts! <g>

2) Can we save or export Explorer settings somehow so that in another or
future installation of XP we don't have to go through the rigmarole all over
again?

Each time I get onto a new XP machine for friends and family, I already have
to do a lot to begin with so would like to speed up that process.

Thanks much in advance! I will most likely be picking up a new computer
this weekend and it has XP on it so would like to strip it down to something
more functional and streamlined right away. Cheers. D

Good Morning.

I've used all major Windows OSs and am familiar with them all but Win98SE's
Windows Explorer remains my favourite, hands-down. It has the nicest blend
of functionality and aesthetics, without going so cutesy as XP, than all the
others -- _for_me_. I had a response to something completely unrelated in
another ng a few months back where someone made a comment that we could turn
off a lot of that fluff in XP. I've searched and searched in various XP ng
archives and did a general google for this but I haven't come across
anything particularly helpful.

1) i.e., how can we turn off that trotting puppy in the search? Also, is
there a way to not have to go through so many screens when searching? That
drives me nuts. I much prefer the search in Win98SE; it's utilitarian and
functional and gets the job done. I often have to click through several
options in XP's and that, too, drives me nuts! <g>

2) Can we save or export Explorer settings somehow so that in another or
future installation of XP we don't have to go through the rigmarole all over
again?

Each time I get onto a new XP machine for friends and family, I already have
to do a lot to begin with so would like to speed up that process.

Thanks much in advance! I will most likely be picking up a new computer
this weekend and it has XP on it so would like to strip it down to something
more functional and streamlined right away. Cheers. D