I turned on my Pc today and my personl settings have gone - my usual screensaver has gone, Outlook is not there and all my favorites on Internet Explorer have gone. Unfortunately I have never taken a backup of my settings.I have not installed any new programs. I have tried system restore but it says that no new programs have been installed.All my program, data and picture files look to be intact. Help!1 person needs an answerI do too

run a full AV SCAN

Thanks for that suggestion. I've just run a full system scan but only found some tracking cookies.Any other ideas?

The symptoms are similar to a corrupted user profile, particularly if your data and pictures are not stored inside the "My Documents" folder. Sometimes a "chkdsk c: /f" operation will correct this issue:"How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP" < http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265 >Caution: sometimes the above can trash your disk so make sure your backups are current first.If that doesn't help, or as an alternate, try the following Microsoft KB article:"How to recover the damaged user profile in Windows XP" < http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555473 >I would think System Restore would work as well but the error you're getting doesn't make sense to me. Are you starting it correctly? Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore.HTH, JW

Many thanks for your suggestions, JW.I ran checkdisc/f - it reported that some errors were fixed, but it didn't help my problem. I tried checkdisk/r - it got to the end of phase 2 and then a messgae came up which said Windows was unable to perform the operation (or similar words).I tried system restore again - yes I did use the path you said. I tried going back a few weeks but it still came up with the message that no new programs have been installed.I eventually had limited success following the damaged user profile link which you provided above. It took ages to perform the copy and replace (over an hour). I now have my shortcuts restored on the desktop and favorites in Internet Explorer. But I seem to have lost user id's on sites where they were previously remembered.The worst thing is that Outlook has not been recovered and I need to reconfigure. Fortunately I took a backup about 2 weeks ago, but it looks as though I will have lost emails since then - unless you know a way to recover them?Thanks again for your help.Stuart

Stuart,Congratulations on recovering almost everything.But I seem to have lost user id's on sites where they were previously remembered.This would be expected. These are stored encrypted to a certificate that is unlocked by your original profile. Since your original profile was corrupted, you will not have access to this.The worst thing is that Outlook has not been recovered and I need to reconfigure. Fortunately I took a backup about 2 weeks ago, but it looks as though I will have lost emails since then - unless you know a way to recover them?I must admit that I am not an Outlook user. I am also assuming that you truly mean Outlook and not Outlook Express. Your old mail files will be stored in .pst files in the directory: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Applications Data\Microsoft\OutlookNote that "Local Settings" is a hidden folder. You will have to enable viewing of hidden files to see it. When you executed KB555473, you created a new username and moved/copied all the old settings to your new username. You might be able to find this folder in your old profile and locate the .pst files and import them into your current user profile. Some links that may help you here:"How to manage.pst files in Outlook 2007, in Outlook 2003, and in Outlook 2002" < http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287070 >"How to Add PST Files" < http://www.ehow.com/how_5183582_add-pst-files.html >HTH, JW

Many thanks JW. Yes I am using Outlook and I'll try your suggestions.TDH,Stuart