Yeah, yeah, you read it right. ;D
I'm not completely unfamilliar with XP, but having been a diehard user of Windows 98se for a very long time, I'm find two things about XP VERY annoying.
Is there ANY way, to make the view inside ALL folders set to "icon" by default? I am sick and tired of opening folders, and seeing "thumbnails" in some, "tiles" in others, and having to change each one to "icon" view one at a time. >:(
Set it up to work as you want, not how the people at MS think you want it. The first thing I did after updating to XP was to set it up to use the Classic Windows options. This will make it more like the Win98 you're familiar with.
First of all, lose that silly Start menu. Right-click on the Start icon at bottom left of your screen. Click Properties & select the Classic option.

Now open any folder in Windows Explorer & click Tools/Folder Options. Select the Classic folders option.

The other thing is the "auto-arrange" feature inside folders. Is there some way to turn this off, completely?
Right-click in any folder in Windows Explorer & de-select the option. This is a handy feature for other View & Arrange options you can use to locate files/folders. I use it frequently.

Check out some other handy tips in my Windows Basics article here. --->
http://www.simviation.com/lair/Windows%20Basics.htm