Vista - I understand less and less

After 26 years of computer use, trying to understand Vista is driving me crazy. Where can I find a basic explanation of how it works? I once stumbled upon something but cannot find it now. For example, while I'm download something, a little box appears showing progress, and a brief glimpse of previous ones, then disappears. There is a place called downloads with a random few listed, from which i can copy items to other locations. But where are all the rest?
Most of the information I need is in my emails (Outlook 2003, personal folders). I would prefer it to be in my documents - a totally separate realm - so that I can work on it. How can I move it over?
I keep accidentally discovering useful little tricks, such as in (Outlook 2003) contacts, clicking on a contact's "activity" tab reveals every email sent to or received from that person, though incredibly slowly. Is there some user guide or instruction manual which would explain such features. I want to simplify my life, not complicate it. I bought a book called Vista for Seniors but nothing in it was relevant to me. Although Outlook 2003 seems to work with Vista, it is not mentioned.
I want to be able to work offline, so I keep my emails inside my laptop rather than in some remote google server. So why would I go over to Windows 7 which is being promoted as catering to people who prefer to work with remote servers?
Any suggestions? I need to join a non-geek local vista mutual support and counselling group!