> ...Notepad almost fits my spec (startup time, simple, quick UI), but it doesn't have syntax highlighting or anything useful for text manipulation/navigation/e

> ...Notepad almost fits my spec (startup time, simple, quick UI), but it doesn't have syntax highlighting or anything useful for text manipulation/navigation/etc. There is Notepad2 (or rather Notepad2-mod). It supports syntax highlighting, it's based on Scintilla. Has most of the basic features needed for code editing, except perhaps for rectangular select, which is not often needed in routine code editing. It's very much a standalone exe with a config file, no plugins.