Classic Shell looks like a solution
Thank you @thenetdoctor,
It looks like Classic Shell will indeed provide what I'm looking for. It does seem more than a little incongruous that in order to get similar functionality to Windows 7 that we have to change Windows 8 to look like XP. Ah, the price of progress ...
If only MS had left the flat tile-based UI for phones and tablets (where it may be useful). I believe that MS is doing a great disservice to anybody who uses a computer for much more than web browsing. It will also be very interesting to see how people's arms and shoulder's feel after using a touch screen in a desktop setting 8 hours every day.
For now, I'm sticking with Windows 7 for as long as I can, but I imagine that my next PC will come with Windows 8, and I may have little choice ...
