A really nice feature which is standard with Windows Vista is the task bar preview. That is when you hover your mouse over an item in the task bar, you get a small thumbnail of what the application currently looks like without having to restore it. If you would like to add this functionality to Windows XP, check out Visual Task Tips.

This free program simply adds the same functionality you get in Vista to XP. Take a look at the screenshot on their web site to see a before and after of what the program does.

Enjoy.