Leave "Libraries" as they are ... it's not a problem to work around them and make your own folders, all included into one folder on the desktop.
Name the desktop folder what you want to, then name all individual folders as you want.
Save to 'desktop' , then move recipes, .txt notes, forums, or whatever into their respective folders. ( the most simple way to do this)
I agree with jaycee,
as a newcomer to windows 7 things will be different to XP but why change or remove them. once you get used to the system then you will appreciate them, i didnt use the libraries much at all in the early days but now i have several drives with music folders.
Using the library to collate the shortcuts to all the different music folders is a godsend, no more opening several windows and folders to get a specific track ,they show in one place.
bare in mind these files and folders in the library are ONLY shortcuts to the original folders that YOU create then add to the library.
I've been using Windows 7 for over two years, now, and I have yet to find any use at all for the "Libraries" feature. Over the course of Windows 3.11 and Windows 95 I developed and refined an organizational system for my files that I kept using through Windows 98, Windows 2000 Pro, XP, and now Windows 7. My files are organized by collections of file types in partitions, then major folders, and then subfolders. In other words, they are all collected in known locations to start with; I don't need a "Library" to offer me a lot of shortcuts to files when I know already exactly where to find them.
For someone who is young, or new to computers, perhaps Libraries may serve them in some useful way, but I've been dealing with this stuff for over 30 years and have developed an organizational system that is second-nature for me. Libraries offer me nothing of any benefit whatsoever, and I have removed them.
My Documents folder is just that, "Documents", not "My Documents". I have a shortcut on my desktop to that Documents folder, and it opens to the actual file location, not to a bunch of shortcuts. My Pictures are on a partition named "Pictures", categoriezed into folders which contain the actual image files.
What I'm getting at is that if one is familiar with the use of computers as a tool, and over the years has developed something that works well for them, why on earth try to force a change in habits in order to comply with a so-called "better idea" conjured up by a bunch of young software engineers who haven't even been alive as long as you have been working?
If you see some benefit to you in using Libraries, by all means go for it, but do it for yourself, not for Microsoft. Believe me, Windows 7 is indeed flexible enough to completely ignore "Libraries" if that's what you want to do.
sounds similar to my set up, but having music folders on three externals and an internal hard drive then using the library to gather all the folders together in one click, well two clicks is handy. and yes i have set up my folders in the first place and so i know where they are but again i can see them all at a glance via a library.
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