This makes me think that you are not in Vista. The thing is, there is
no such folder as "documents and settings" in Vista.
You can access "documents" by going to the pearl button and clicking
on "computer". Then click on the c: drive on the left. At that
point, you would double click on "Users" on the right. You would
then double click on the users name on the right. At that point, you
should be able to open the documents folder.
As for settings, there are any number of ways to get to different
things. It all depends on what you are doing. If you are in Vista,
which I suspect you are not, you can do a pearl search for the setting
you are interested in changing or click on control panel or right
click on the desk top to personalize.