So with some very useful help from you guys my Windows 7 is finally beginning to look like something I needn't be ashamed of ..... BUT (oh, come on, you knew there'd be a but!) ...

I still have to deal a thousand times a day with the most irritating thing that MS ever came up with - that damned infotip that tells me I'm hovering over Start when I'm hovering over Start. It makes me want to scream! "Really? It's Start? Wow, what an amazing revelation! How would I ever have got through this ten seconds without knowing that this is the start orb!" And worse still, because I have a vertical taskbar it actually covers up the custom orb I slaved over in the hope of seeing it in full effect!!!

I've searched time and time again for a way to get rid of the stupid thing, tried all the alleged solutions, none of which work, and I just can't take it any more.

Please ... someone tell me there is a way to be rid of this. If it's fiddly, dangerous or just plain crazy, I don't care. I just want to see nothing but my start orb and the cursor in that corner from now on!