Windows 7 Permanently delete My Pictures, My Videos, etc ...

(I didn't remember to mention this in the original post. Doing the obvious -- simply deleting the offending folders -- works initially. But they reappear within an hour or two)

For all sorts of reasons Including the fact that they encourage bad practice of storing user data scattered all over and embedded deeply in the system drive) I never use them either but provided you configure browsers software etc to use the folders you wish then they will never get used and you can just leave them empty and ignore them (as I do).

True enough -- I could just ignore them.

My objection to them is this: I intend to use that 'home' directory as my work area -- where I keep files and directories I'm using at the time. All those extra folders clutter it up, and make it harder for me to visually locate the folders I actually care about. I like to keep my work folder clean and uncluttered. Why in heaven's name does MS feel they need to foist these on me?

If I can't figure out a way to get rid of them, I'll just create a working folder elsewhere and use that instead ...

As I mentioned in my earlier post the entire structure of user data folders embedded amongst the system files is bad practice. The system drive should be used to store only the operating system, installed apps and associated config files etc. All user data should be stored on a totally separate drive - either a separate physical drive or a logical partition. That way there is no potential problem with loss and recovery of data if and when it is necessary to run a reinstall of the op sys.