Alternatives to Editing the Registry
Tweak UI
Tweak UI is available on Microsoft's PowerToys for Windows XP page. It also makes many hidden system settings accessible. It does not access any non-Microsoft program settings. There are lots of other free PowerToys available there too.
Control Panel
Virtually all changes here are changes to the registry
Ransack the menus:
Any program that is running
Programs running in the "Tray"
Other tweaking programs:
There are many hidden settings in Windows as well as in a lot of other programs and normally you can't change them. X-Setup Pro allows you to quickly and easily change settings that are normally hidden deeply in Windows. It can be dangerous though. :-)
Registration files:
You can discover many fixes on the Internet that don't involve direct editing of the registry because the "Reg file" (registration file) for the fix is included. Kelly's Korner has a large number of registry fixes and tweaks.
