Booted computer it's now acting like a new computer

[Kdiver58]

Something odd happened .. When it booted I got an error that it could not find a file (I'm sorry I don't know what file it mentioned)
Now it's acting like a new computer. All data is still there it just can't find it .. sort of.
I thought I lost all MS Word docs .. But when I search for a file I know I just edited it finds it .. But if I look into that folder it shows nothing .. If I do a search with wildcats *.doc . It finds nothing . All bookmarks are gone in IE but if I dig around on the hard-drive the bookmarks are still there I can double click on them and they open. BUT I can't import them.
Any ideas what's going on ? I ran a chkdsk and all is well.
Something got corrupted I just don't know what . All of the programs I have tried to run, run just fine .. HELP

Windows XP home edition

 

[ViRGE]

This is just a shot in the dark, but it sounds like your profile became corrupt and Windows generated a new one.

 

[Paperlantern]

This is just a shot in the dark, but it sounds like your profile became corrupt and Windows generated a new one.

+1 to this. Did you get any message at anytime bout windows logging you into a temporary profile? What do you have listed under C:\Documents and Settings\ ? There should be a list of users there that use the machine, any folders named TEMP or duplicates of your name would indicate a profile problem.

 

[Kdiver58]

It's looking like you both are right on the money.

As a user I have always listed myself as Admin1
If I dig around I find all of my files in the Admin1 file
under Admin1 pictures , Admin1 Videos .. ETC. etc .
My documents, My Pictures and My Videos are all empty.

It's easy for me to copy from one folder to the other.

Is there a better way to recover from this?

I am looking for my google bookmarks .. what is the name
of this file? I'm going to have to reinstall google chrome
but don't want to overwrite the bookmark file.

All of my new emails are still on the server but someof the
really old stuff is not .. How do I get outlook express to
find the old folder and load it? It's all still there I just need
to find a way to connect the dots.

Thanks ... K

 

[Fardringle]

If Windows created a temporary profile because your normal profile is corrupt, DO NOT copy your files from the old location to the current My Document/My Pictures/etc folders. The temporary profile and all of its folders (and the files inside them) will be deleted when you reboot the computer.

 

[Kdiver58]

How can I recover ? I'd like to get everything pointed in the right direction and get my bookmarks back ..

 

[ViRGE]

How can I recover ? I'd like to get everything pointed in the right direction and get my bookmarks back ..

Create a new user, and then copy everything you need out of the corrupted profile to the new user's profile.

 

[Gunbuster]

I take it you have rebooted? Sometimes if something like shitty anti-virus software (Symantec) was locking a profile file it will bounce you to the temp profile. Rebooting often fixes it.

 

[Kdiver58]

I was able to recover everything (it was all there) as several of the above posters have stated the profile was corrupted.
I was able to copy all of the DBX, Picture and what not over to the new profile and I've got 99.9% of my computer back. Thanks all.
The only program I cannot get to work is google chrome. I've deleted as many files as I can find . Cleaned the registry up a bit but it still will not allow me to install google chrome. It keeps giving me error 7 ... stating that google chrome is running ... o-WELL I'll take 99.9% any day. Thanks again ..