Want to make a few changes to Windows Vista, but don't feel like mucking around in the Windows Registry? Vispa is a free executable (no installation required) that lets you make a whole slew of modifications to Windows Vista's appearance and behavior.

For example, you can easily convert your start menu and theme to Windows Classic, (which you could also do through the control panel), or you can enable "fast shutdown," which basically changes some windows registry settings to decrease the amount of time Windows will wait for unresponsive services to terminate before shutting down.

Vispa has a strong focus on privacy, allowing you to disable error-reporting, automatic updates, and other communications with Microsoft.

When you start Vispa, it also gives you the option of undoing all of your previous changes. If you've already manually changed some of the settings included in Vispa, you might want to be careful about choosing the restore option, as it might undo those changes as well.

[via CyberNet]