Windows 7 - Classic view of control panel, folders and files

Can you please help me?
I am an extremely new user of Windows 7 Premium edition and am not a computer guru, but a fairly experienced user of XP Pro, and I use my computer as a tool not a toy. I am very busy trying to make a living and would just like to be able to see my Control Panel and folders and files in the classic view that I am accustomed to. I really don't have the time to start learning to do everything differently, and when I go to the help menu it seems to give me instructions for how this is done with Vista not Windows 7. This is really stressing me out, and I just need to get back to a production mode.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Welcome to the forum:

You may want to try this:

Get the Classic Start Menu in Windows 7 - the How-To Geek

Always make a system restore point first and make sure that any download is virus free.

Good luck

Hello Jim, and welcome to Seven Forums.

For the Control Panel, this can help show you how to.

Control Panel View - Category or Icons

Hope this helps,
Shawn