Well, that kind of works. Essentially, I was already doing that by changing the registry settings in the "Default User" profile. Instead of the shotgun approach of copying an existing user’s entire profile, I was surgically changing the settings I wanted. However apparently Windows resets the settings I care about as it creates a new profile (this is not the case with most settings). Super annoying! With the profile copied I guess there is something that says "I have already done this" and the settings stay the same.
I should also point out that Microsoft does not support the "Default User" overwrite approach, I had a number of icon problems when I booted up Windows 7 using this approach. You can also run into problems if you ever delete the profile that was used to create "Default User."