New user to win 2000, local & network

[jcnj6]

Greetings

I have my first experience with Win2000 on a TP-T23.
I thought I was doing ok.
I signed on as administrator as it was the "default" name.
Installed my programs, restored all my data files from my TP-600

I use it at home on a peer-peer network 95% of the time
When I go to work, I want to sign on to the NT network to access server printers.
In win98 I would simply check "log onto Win NT" and reboot
I was able to log on with Win2000 with little effort, but I seemed to have created a new user in the process.

This is not a big deal, but the new user has a separate Desktop, My Documents, printers, etc. (i.e. everthing I use has dissapeared)
Everything goes back to normal if I sign on as Administrator, but I have no access to the NT network resources
I have seen in online docs that I probably should have created the user before I did any installation.
I also do not see any rhyme or reason to where the programs shortcuts were installed.
Some are in "Admin", others in "All Users"

I have searched microsoft to no avail.
All their help appears to be for admin. servers

So . . . .
Is there a book, or online publication that will help a newbie to W2000?
Can I simply copy-paste my Start Menu, My Doc, Printers, etc. to the users' directory?
Do I need to reinstall all the applications for the new user?
Do I need to uninstall them first?
Are there registry entrys I have to worry about?
Should I have 2 users to automatically choose between peer-peer vs NT network?
What is the relationship between all the folder items in "All Users", "Administrator", "__?__user" and what is currently seen?

Why is it impossible to find help at the manufacturers website!
. . . . . Oh, yeh, . . . . . It's Microsoft.

I know this is a lot to ask
I really would just appreciate a good resource

Thank you to all who respond

Rich J