Thanks for the info. I haven't read the link yet but I have made a bookmark to it so that I can look into it soon.
I was originally going off information provided by Zonx in the following thread:
Link (about half way down).
I have since tried his test mentioned on page 2 of that thread and all seemed well. So it would appear that it's safe to assume that Notepad++ doesn't change the encoding so it should be safe to Open & Save EQ2 XML files with it. As opposed to following his Tips for Open, Copy & Paste from Notepad into Notepad++ then back again for Saving.
Would that be the consensus or is there something else I should consider before diving right in and losing Notepad all together?
Thanks again for your help.