i found the best way to configure the bar is to start with one of the preset configurations and then use the "DisableItemList" method

but remove the buttons in order and you can then get rid of the sperator tags as well.... so for instance.... what i want available for doing Private Messages:

Private Sub SetUpEditBox()
        EditBox.AutoConfigure = CuteEditor.AutoConfigure.Simple
        Dim UserDir As String = Server.MapPath("/images/users" & GetThisUsername())
        If system.IO.Directory.Exists(UserDir) Then
            EditBox.ImageGalleryPath = "/images/users" & GetThisUsername()
            EditBox.DisableItemList = "fontDropDown,sizeDropDown,Separator,JustifyLeft,JustifyCenter,JustifyRight,Separator,InsertOrderedList,InsertUnorderedList,Separator,Indent,Outdent,Separator,Separator,InsertTable,Help"
        Else
            EditBox.DisableItemList = "fontDropDown,sizeDropDown,Separator,JustifyLeft,JustifyCenter,JustifyRight,Separator,InsertOrderedList,InsertUnorderedList,Separator,Indent,Outdent,Separator,Separator,ImageGallery,InsertTable,Help"
        End If
        EditBox.ShowLogo = False
        EditBox.ShowHtmlMode = False
End Sub

So