Windows 7 Pro

[Lord Orwell]

documents and settings doesn't actually exist any more. the one you can't enter is a place holder shortcut that the OS uses to redirect to the users folder. You aren't locked out of any folder in win 7 unless someone else has an account and encrypts that folder. Administrator has full access to the OS. And as for hidden files, it behaves exactly the same as it does in xp. If it's marked hidden OR system, it's hidden. The only real issue i ever had with it is the command prompt can't be made full screen. I used a 3rd party replacement.
and xp would hide the entire windows and program files directory.
Finally i am not sure what issue you have with my computer unless you miss the up arrow. classic folders mode is available, and while this is backwards from how most people behave, it's possible to make win7 look and behave exactly like xp, although a couple of features can't be turned off such as icon stacking.

i don't know what kind of system you have win7 on, but xp has more fundamental flaws with it making it function less than perfectly on modern computers. The biggest issue is the way the 32-bit version maps memory. Sure, you can have 4gb of memory, but you can only use 2gb of it. the OS takes the rest. Remember that xp was designed originally to run on computers with 4 to 8 megabytes of memory. While patches have upped that requirement, it still has issues. Another example is the partition size limit of your boot drive. You need a slipstreamed install disk with service pack 3 on it if your boot drive is too large.