Some undocumented registry settings of Delphi 5 (which -slightly adapted- might also work with Delphi 4 and below) modify the behavior of the Delphi component palette in a manner you may like!
Most values are stored as strings, and boolean values are represented as "1" for true and "0" for false. All values are stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
As always, use of this information is at your own risk... ;-)
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Extras\AutoPaletteSelect
will cause a tab on the component palette to be automatically selected when the mouse is hovering over it. If the mouse is in the top two-thirds (2/3) of the tab, the palette for that tab will automatically be displayed.
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Extras\AutoPaletteScroll
will make you scroll left and right automatically whenever the mouse is positioned over the relevant arrow.
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Editor\Options\NoCtrlAltKeys
Disables menu item Ctrl+Alt key sequences for international keyboards
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Form Design\AlwaysEnableMiddleEast
Forces Right-to-Left text in the form designer (?)
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Extras\FontNamePropertyDisplayFontNames
Display the fonts in the object inspector dropdown in the font's actual style (slow with many fonts installed). See also DsgnIntf.FontNamePropertyDisplayFontNames in D5.
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Compiling\ShowCodeInsiteErrors
Show compilation errors found by CodeInsite in the message view window
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Globals\PropValueColor
Fill in with a string like "clGreen" to change the color of the right half (properties) of the Object Inspector.
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Disabled Packages
This is the place you put Delphi Direct :)
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Globals\TwoDigitYearCenturyWindow
Default value for TwoDigitYearCenturyWindow (see the help file)
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Component Templates\CCLibDir
Alternative component templates directory (shared/network)
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\FormDesign\DefaultFont="Arial,8" [D4] or "Arial,8,Bold" [D5]
The default for for new forms (you might prefer using the repository's default form checkbox instead)
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Wizards
Alternate key to store Expert/Wizard DLLs to load at startup
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Debugging\DontPromptForJITDebugger
Don't ask to change the current JIT debugger (?)
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Version Control\VCSManager
The DLL used for the version control interface in the IDE.
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Globals\PrivateDir
A way to specify an alternative directory for the location for the Delphi configuration files when running the application from a network drive or the CD-ROM.
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Main Window\Palette Visible
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Main Window\Speedbar Visible
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Main Window\Palette Hints
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Main Window\Speedbar Hints
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Main Window\Split Position
These seem to have no effect at runtime, but are read by the IDE. The actually used values come from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Toolbars.
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\ProjectManager\Dockable
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\PropertyInspector\Dockable
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\CallStackWindow\Dockable
Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\ModuleWindow\Dockable
Read but unused settings. Used values come from DSK files.
There are lots of other interesting registry keys that aren't modifiable in the IDE, but they all have values written by default, so you can find and play with them much easier.
For easier use, I have created a .REG file for you - download it, adjust it to meet your needs and simply double click it in Explorer to update the registry with your preferred configuration...