Microsoft 'Shortcuts'

I have just returned from an user with a very interesting problem in Microsoft Outlook 2003.
The user had just been transferring his files to the new PC (which I am very grateful he can do by himself), when he discovered that even after exporting all his mail and contacts from Outlook 2003 on the old PC into Outlook 2003 on the new PC, the email address auto completion didn't work.

Looking through the information on the web - the main problem being discovering how Microsoft named that feature, I learned that it's called 'Nicknames'.

It seems that when you export all the mail and settings and contacts that little thing is not included.
A brief search on Microsoft help sites reveals a tutorial for 'transferring nicknames to another computer', which includes approximately the following steps:
1. Change explorer settings so that you see hidden files and folders and file extensions.
2. Find the file in c:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Profile.NK2
3. Copy the file into the same location on the new computer.
4. If the profile name on the new computer is different, rename the file.
5. Start Outlook again, woila, now it works.

The fact of the matter is that it really does work, but I find it tedious to perform this procedure for such a simple task, which should have been included in the 'Transfer all my mail and settings' in the first place.
What bothers me most are two things: that this is not an isolated incident, and people have grown used to similar tasks.

Let me provide an example.
Suppose that you wish to change a setting on a Linux or FreeBSD box. You look the thing up with google and the tutorial tells you to go and modify some settings files. There are no GUI setup tools (except for rare programs - the number is increasing quite quickly over the past few years, but for many tools the conf files are the only way still). Incidentally, all the configuration files are saved in the same place, under the user's home folder.
Such is life, people are used to it.

Then look at Microsoft. See their 'flaunting' of Graphical User Interface(tm), which removes all need for command line. Guess what? Most of the 'tricky' settings require either a special program to change them (which often costs money), or rummaging around the system registry. I'll admit that the system registry has a nice gui, but that's simply not a nice way to change settings, especially as it is bloated and slow.
Some settings cannot even be changed in that manner and still require file editing (example: hard-coding DNS resolves for local machines).

Well, this, dear Microsoft, just won't do. If you are going to have a purely graphical user interface, I'd expect the instructions to go like this:
"Open control panel. Click Administrator tools. Open the user rights management console..."
And not like this:
"Click Start, then Run. Type in 'gpedit' and press Enter..."

Can you imagine how confusing it gets when you learn how to change a myriad settings in slightly different ways?

Please choose one way or another, just not something in between that tips to either side, depending on how the specific programmer felt like when implementing it.

To give a real world example:
C - customer, S - support person
C: "So, how do I lower the window on the driver's side?"
S: "Simply press and hold the switch on the door with the small arrow on it."
C: "Okay, so how do I open the passenger's window?"
S: "Not a problem. Take a 7/26 wrench, unscrew the car door screws on the inside, remove cover. There you will see a few wires. Refer to your manual to see which two control the window motor, then simply cross them. They have already been peeled for your convenience. Don't forget to replace the cover afterwards."

Somehow I don't see it happening.