# Windows XP Pro

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-pro/113501>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 11, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-pro/113501 "2002-06-11T18:42:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-pro/113501/1 "2002-06-11T18:42:32Z")

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How do I turn off these damn balloons?

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**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-pro/113501/2 "2002-06-11T19:05:30Z")

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Er… which balloons?

_peers around her computer, and doesn’t see any balloons_

Do you mean the tool-tip thingies?

* * *

\<\< Wheeeeeeeeeeee! \>\>

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-pro/113501/3 "2002-06-11T19:18:08Z")

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GPEDIT.MSC has “Remove Balloon Tips on start menu items”  
But what about the task bar with “Eat At Joes’s!” “Sign Up For The Microsoft network”, and “Your Message Here-Call B. Gates”

I can turn off the task bar, but Ihaven’t figured out how to kill just the balloons.

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**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-pro/113501/4 "2002-06-11T19:36:15Z")

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If you’re comfortable playing with your registry:

```auto

  1. Launch **regedit**. 
  2. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced 
  3. Create a new DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips. 
  4. Give the entry a value of 0 to disable the tips or 1 to turn them back on.

```

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**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-pro/113501/5 "2002-06-11T19:41:01Z")

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Hmmm. I did some quick looking, and the TweakUI from Microsoft has something for the balloon tips, as does Xteq’s utility. But, that isn’t quite what you’re looking for, and it sounds like you’ve solved that particular problem so…

_hunts some more_

Xteq has a way to remove the ‘tour balloon popup’, which I think is different from the item you’re trying to get rid of. (That should dissapear automaticcaly after the first three times you log on.) It’s not the ‘\<–Start here!’ message is it?

(I don’t have this happening on my comp, so either it never did or I figured out how to stop it so long ago that my method sunk into the depths of oblivion.)