diff --git a/modules/pymol/_gui.py b/modules/pymol/_gui.py
index c12f0450b..8ff99a77c 100644
--- a/modules/pymol/_gui.py
+++ b/modules/pymol/_gui.py
@@ -6,13 +6,6 @@
 import os
 import webbrowser
 
-try:
-    from platformdirs import user_cache_dir
-except ImportError:
-    def user_cache_dir(appname, *args, **kwargs):
-        return f"~/.cache/{appname}"
-
-
 class PyMOLDesktopGUI(object):
     '''Superclass for PyMOL Desktop Applications'''
 
@@ -991,14 +984,8 @@ def _recent_filenames_lazy_init(self):
                 return False
             return True
 
-        def _get_db_filepath():
-            db_filename = "recent.db"
-            dir1, dir2 = "~/.pymol", user_cache_dir("pymol")
-            f1 = os.path.expanduser(os.path.join(dir1, db_filename))
-            f2 = os.path.expanduser(os.path.join(dir2, db_filename))
-            return (dir1, f1) if os.path.exists(f1) else (dir2, f2)
-
-        d, f = _get_db_filepath()
+        d = os.path.expanduser('~/.pymol')
+        f = os.path.join(d, 'recent.db')
 
         try:
             os.makedirs(d)
diff --git a/modules/pymol/plugins/__init__.py b/modules/pymol/plugins/__init__.py
index 2f8aa5b9e..91772d764 100644
--- a/modules/pymol/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/modules/pymol/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -13,23 +13,9 @@
 from pymol import colorprinting
 from .legacysupport import *
 
-try:
-    from platformdirs import user_data_dir
-except ImportError:
-    def user_data_dir(appname, *args, **kwargs):
-        return f"~/.local/share/{appname}"
-
 # variables
-def _get_pymolplugins_rc_path():
-    f1 = os.path.expanduser("~/.pymolpluginsrc.py")
-    if os.path.exists(f1):
-        return f1
-
-    data_dir = os.path.expanduser(user_data_dir("pymol"))
-    os.makedirs(data_dir, exist_ok=True)
-    return os.path.join(data_dir, 'pymolpluginsrc.py')
 
-PYMOLPLUGINSRC = _get_pymolplugins_rc_path()
+PYMOLPLUGINSRC = os.path.expanduser('~/.pymolpluginsrc.py')
 
 preferences = {
     'verbose': False,
diff --git a/modules/pymol/plugins/installation.py b/modules/pymol/plugins/installation.py
index a2278e571..2fb8f6f03 100644
--- a/modules/pymol/plugins/installation.py
+++ b/modules/pymol/plugins/installation.py
@@ -8,12 +8,6 @@
 
 import os
 
-try:
-    from platformdirs import user_data_dir
-except ImportError:
-    def user_data_dir(appname, *args, **kwargs):
-        return f"~/.local/share/{appname}"
-
 # supported file types for installation. Do not support pyc and pyo binaries,
 # we want text files that can be parsed for metadata.
 zip_extensions = ['zip', 'tar.gz']
@@ -27,18 +21,12 @@ class BadInstallationFile(Exception):
 
 def get_default_user_plugin_path():
     r'''
-    User plugin directory defaults to $XDG_DATA_HOME/startup on Linux and to
+    User plugin directory defaults to ~/.pymol/startup on Linux and to
     %APPDATA%\pymol\startup on windows.
     '''
-    dirname = "startup"
     if 'APPDATA' in os.environ:
-        return os.path.join(os.environ['APPDATA'], 'pymol', dirname)
-
-    dir1, dir2 = "~/.pymol", user_data_dir("pymol")
-    d1 = os.path.expanduser(os.path.join(dir1, dirname))
-    d2 = os.path.expanduser(os.path.join(dir2, dirname))
-    return d1 if os.path.exists(d1) else d2
-
+        return os.path.join(os.environ['APPDATA'], 'pymol', 'startup')
+    return os.path.expanduser('~/.pymol/startup')
 
 def is_writable(dirname):
     '''