where should config files go in Windows?

[Russell E. Owen]

I'm writing a cross-platform app. Presently it runs on unix and MacOS X, 
but eventually I'd like to get it working on Windows (nothing older than 
2000).

For unix and MacOS X I store settings in ~/.TUIPrefs and ~/.TUIGeom and 
allow extensions to be stored in ~/TUIAdditions/ and <app's parent 
dir>/TUIAdditions/.

Is the home dir easily accessible from vanilla Python (and if so, how do 
I get there)? Is there a better directory (I'm really not keen to mess 
with the registry) or some special add-on library that I'll need?

Also, is there something simple like unix's leading "." that makes 
Windows files invisible?

Any help appreciated. I tried google and found this topic discussed 
several years ago, but the answers were confusing and didn't seem to 
apply to current Windows.

-- Russell