I’ve written before about how to use this feature to your advantage, but what if you just hate it? Well, there’s an easy way to turn it off entirely so you don’t have to look at its ugly face ever again. To do that, visit Finder> Preferences…
…then click on the General tab and change “New Finder windows show” to whatever you want.
In my case, I’ve decided to use my Home folder, but you’re free to pick whatever you like.
After that’s done, you can also get rid of “All My Files” from Finder’s sidebar in a couple of different ways. Depending on which version of the operating system you’re running, either drag or Command-drag its icon right out of the sidebar until it disappears in a puff of smoke.
Or you could go back to Finder> Preferences instead, click on the Sidebar tab, and deselect “All My Files” from the list.
(That’s a handy way to put stuff back in Finder’s sidebar if you’ve accidentally removed it, too.)
In any case, if you follow these steps, “All My Files” will be gone, and your Finder will work the way it did back in the pre-Lion days. Things were so much simpler then, weren't they?