How to keep settings from one session to next?

Certain settings fall back to defaults when I use Safe Mode, but I have that problem now in XP any time I shut XP down. One is the setting for the wheel-equipped mouse that I set to double-click when the wheel is pressed. Another is keeping the Microsoft Office "Shortcut Bar" available.
Another challenge I have is with the Task Bar. Most of the time the only way I can get the icons I want there is to log off, then log back on. Particularly with ClipCache. Any suggestions?

 

entering safe mode should not change anything at all. what you are doing you are just using a barely set of system drivers and not all. so i think you could have something else doing tricky things...perhaps perform a virus scan might help.

 

While I agree that entering safe mode should not change anything, the fact is that safe mode re-arranges my desktop, makes the task bar a one-liner, and does other subtle and not-so-subtle things. Always has, since the first time MS made Windows. But the point I am trying to combat is that now, just shutting down the 'puter has a similar effect, particularly as noted in my original post. Any help making these settings more or less permanent will be appreciated.

 

Can you elaborate on why you need to access safe mode so often? Perhaps there is something else going on?
Johanna

 

Quicklaunch bar disappear on reboot? Desktop icons re-arrange on reboot? Have you run a registry cleaner on that machine? There could be some incorrect permissions causing the registry keys that contain your preferences to be inaccessible. It was common for RegSeeker version 1.52 to cause this, and there may well be other registry cleaners that cause it.

 

I am obviously not being clear here, I don't run Safe Mode any more than required: maybe three times so far since I bit the bullet and installed XP. But in every version of MS Windows since Windows for Workgroups, using Safe Mode has resulted in some unwanted changes. Since I now know what to expect when I use Safe Mode, it has become a non-issue. I only referred to this characteristic to illustrate what was occurring with certain settings when I shut down. e.g., I like to use the middle wheel button on the mouse as a "double-click" as well as for scrolling. I can set my mouse buttons up the way I want them, but when I restart after shutting down everything is back to the defaults. This started immediately after I installed (shudder) XP.
I hope that this explanation is more understandable. Thanks for spending some time with me on this! Ciao ==L==