Creating macros

This is a blog of frustration. Once upon a time, the Mac operating system used to have a very simple facility to record macros, so that you could automate common tasks. You clicked a Record button, carried out the required operation, and clicked the Stop button. Then you assigned a keyboard key. That was it. It worked brilliantly. Sadly, it was dropped around about System 7. The PC has never had a similar facility, and I have spent some frustrating hours trying to find a utility that does the same. There are a number of freeware utilities, but either they require a degree in computing to implement, or they simply don't work. What do I want to do? For example, the PC has no keyboard command to create a new folder (on the Macintosh, Cmd-N does the job). I believe that Windows 7 has implemented this, but why has it taken Microsoft several thousand years to catch up with such a simple operation? So seeing it's going to be a year or more before I purchase Windows 7, it appears I have to languish. If anyone knows of a SIMPLE macro utility that actually works, I would love to hear.