After countless re-installations and equally countless characters I have learned that numerous things make game play *much* more enjoyable, and I wanted to share. Some of this is likely well known, but we do seem to be attracting new players lately (perhaps because of
Oblivion?)
@Fable, if this post is inappropriate here, then please feel free to move it to its own thread or whatever else works 
Changes to the .ini file (Configurations Settings) Lighting
Quadratic lighting, as opposed to the default Linear, is far more subtle and generally nicer (works beautifully with the "Lights 300" mod). It can also increase framerate and stability.
Go to your .ini file and make the following adjustments:
[LightAttenuation]
UseConstant=0
ConstantValue=0.0
;
UseLinear=0
LinearMethod=1
LinearValue=3.0
LinearRadiusMult=1.0
;
UseQuadratic=1
QuadraticMethod=2
QuadraticValue=16.0
QuadraticRadiusMult=1.4
;
OutQuadInLin=0 Clear Water (especially recommended if you use "Abbot's Water Life")
Replace the relevant .ini settings as so:
UnderwaterDayFog=2.5
UnderwaterSunsetFog=3
UnderwaterNightFog=4
UnderwaterIndoorFog=3
UnderwaterColor=012,030,037
UnderwaterColorWeight=0.85
to:
UnderwaterDayFog=0.10
UnderwaterSunsetFog=0.10
UnderwaterNightFog=0.10
UnderwaterIndoorFog=0.10
UnderwaterColor=012,030,037
UnderwaterColorWeight=0.45
Getting tired of clicking through errors?
In your .ini insert the following line:
AllowYesToAll=1
Note:
Always create a backup of your .ini file
before making changes
Making installations less time consuming
Once you have determined which mods you absolutely can't live without (i.e texture replacers, tweaks, shops, items/clothing, but
not quests or mods that dramatically impact the game) make a copy of your main Morrowind folder and put it somewhere safe. This will make subsequent re-installations *much* less tedious.
Making the game more challenging (without adding difficulty mods)
Go unarmored. By not wearing armor your character does not become overpowered nearly as quickly, and because of the relatively low maximum unarmoured achieves, the game is far more likely to remain challenging, even when you are stronger. Besides.. there are so many awesome clothing mods out there...
Making Morrowind run more smoothly with an older machine (especially if you like to use a lot of mods)
Duh... I wish I'd clued into this one a long time ago....
Um... turn off everything that does not need to be running before launching your game. This especially applies to any scanners such as AV or anti-spyware. I recently started doing this and it feels like I've suddenly added an extra stick of RAM
Also, thanks to Darzog, I have become aware of a nifty little device that helps to free up additional RAM that other programmes do not actually need. It can be found
here.