Uninstalling Win 7; reboot previous Win 7

[printit]

I made a mistake. I attempted to "repair" Win 7 (Prof) by re-installing, as I used to do for XP. Instead of a repair I have Win 7, which has absolutely nothing installed and "windows.old", which I knew I was getting. I have files and folders that I cannot access (browser favorites, Outlook (HUGE), etc. I've searched everywhere and while I am able to find instructions to revert back to an XP or Vista installation (boot sector instructions are different for the two) I have yet to find a way to uninstall the new 7 and return to my old 7. Help!
I have enough room to perform the move on my HD.
I've also run this by a talk show that features a tech and he suggested I contact the community. He couldn't figure it out.
Thanks!
Al

[spoon_]

Can't you just simply take ownership of the folders to which you have no access at the moment?

[printit]

Spoon
I'm not familiar with the terminology you're using (MY stuff) but if you mean to go into Explorer and "move" them, no. I can find the .pst (Outlook) file in a backup drive I have (not the entire OS, simply documents, photos, music) but I don't know how to integrate it with the Outlook I just installed on the new 7 in an attempt to find the file and place it in the current .pst file. No avail.
Thanks for thinking on it for me. Cheer me up if you're telling me something I don't understand.
Al

[shaithis]

Outlook stores it's PST files in a hidden folder in..

c:\users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

AppData is hidden by default.

Is there not a users.old? Or if you look in users is there a backup of your old user folder?

[printit]

shaithis,
I THOUGHT I had checked out this option earlier doing a *.pst search. I am able to find the old .pst files in windows.old.
I couldn't figure out how to migrate this "old" file into the new .pst folder in Outlook. I finally decided to copy it to the desktop.....and bingo.....I'm importing. Without it on the desktop Outlook didn't recognize that there was a file available because it was in "old". With it copied to the desktop it immediately allowed me to choose it for import.
Thanks for your help!