I think this is primarily XP, but any and all suggestions would be welcome. You know when you’re in Windows Explorer, and there’s that bar down the left side of the screen that has all that wonderfully amazingly useful information and common tasks? Yeah, I need to figure out how to make that to go away. Barring that, can anybody name any alternatives to Windows Explorer? Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Install Linux 
(sorry - i know someone always says this, but this time it was my turn!)
In older versions of windows, you could go under the tools menu, folder options and select “use classic folders” in the first tab. In one of the other tabs, click the button that says “make all folders like this” (or something like that).
I don’t have an XP machine in front of me, but I believe it works the same way.
Well, buried somewhere in the jungles of the WinXP control screens there’s actually a “Classic Windows” checkbox that makes it look and act like Win2k. I REFUSE to use WinXP without that option.
Also somewhere (IIRC if you right click the desktop and go to properties) there’s 2 buttons that say “Optimise for Best Appearence” and “Optimise for best performance”. Click on the “Optimise for Best Performance”. Not only does it get rid of most of the XP Bull$*** it also makes that pathetic OS run MUCH faster.
You could try 2xExplorer.
Everybody, thanks a lot for the help. That classic folders tab was just the ticket. Thank the [Insert Deity Here].