I renamed my home folder :( can't get it back to normal

Question

hi, i know there are about a billion topics in this forum about this same thing, but i still cannot get everything back to normal despite reading a lot of them.
a couple of weeks ago i renamed my home folder, which created a whole new set of preferences.
i've done some things since then, but i can't remember every step i've taken so bare with me! maybe you clever people can figure out what i've missed out/done wrong.
i remember that in the users folder i renamed the new (incorrect) folder to Stephen_new, and changed the old (correct) one to Stephen. - this was as instructed to by http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854.
I also copied the whole library folder from the home > Stephen > library to the home > library folder, as instructed on step 3 on this website http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/renamehomerecovery.html (i presumed by 'home > library > library they meant home > Stephen > library). This gave me back my bookmarks and stuff.
however, in the home folder there was only library and desktop. now, when i add something to a folder (say movies) through mac hd > users > stephen > movies (or the shortcut on the left of finder) it creates a new movies folder in the home directory, and copies the file there too. i.e. the file is in 2 places.
also on the left of finder the icons for movies etc. have all gone back to blue folder icons.
so basically the problem is before if i wanted to go to documents it would be right in my home folder, but now i have to go mac hd > users > Stephen > documents to get there, or i could make a shortcut on the left of finder.
i'm not sure how to tell which users folder i'm actually using, Stephen or Stephen_new. I'm guessing it's Stephen as new files seem to save there.
i would guess that i need to change my users folder to the name of my home folder icon, but you can't have 2 things the same name in the same folder.
i created a topic at appleinsider.com's forums, which no one replied to. maybe some of the info there could help you figure it out
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=71584
thank you very much for any help you can give me. if anything is unclear please ask me to explain further.
ibook g4   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Answer 1

hello again,
i didn't really dare to delete the blue home folders before, just in case everything went wrong, but now i think i have so little space that i can't afford to lose 2.25gb!
one thing that slightly worries me is the fact that the 'proper' library folder (in the home icon) is 2.09gb, whereas the 'wrong' one (from the blue folder forenamesurname) is 2.24gb - this is the one i would be deleting. just seems odd to delete a larger file than the one i presume i'm using.
"Move everything you want to keep out of the blue folders, and then place both of the folders on your desktop. If everything works properly after a few days, delete both folders. If you are asked for your administrator password at any point or if either folder is copied instead of moved when dragged, don't delete that folder."
by 'everything you want to keep', does this include the library folder? 'cause there doesn't seem to be much else, and i'm not sure if deleting the library folder would ruin all my preferences.
i've put both of the folders on the desktop, it didn't ask for the admin password or try to copy them, so i guess that's good news. what kind of things should i be looking out for to act differently?
are the folders not in use now that they are on the desktop?
also if i put them in the trash will they have no effect? i.e. the same as permanently deleting them, so i could put them in the trash as a test.
cheers, stephen.