XP's wiped my user area... Help!!

[Tizzy]

Hello! I'm just posting this question on the off chance that something similar may have happened to some1 else and they can help me out??! On the main comp i have Windows XP Professional which is split into three users area's .... of which mine is password'd. I went to log on as usual and when it opened my area it seemed to treat me as a new user! My background picture has disappeared, my icons have gone .. all but the waste paper bin! It says some of my files have disappeared and asks me to reload office tools, msn messnger, internet etc etc when i try to use them I have recovered and reactivated some of my files but they are now available on every1's user area! I dont know what to do to get my old settings back?! And to stop my files being accessible to every1 else! Damn XP! Help! T x

[j2buttonsw]

It sounds as if someone has deleted your profile or your profile has become corrupted. If all three users have administrative rights (which is somewhat of a grey area with XP) they can easily delete/alter your profile. It is strange why you can only recover some of your files: usually files stored in My Documents are profile based whereas files stored in a folder created at the root of C: (for example) are accessible to all. If the hard drive is formatted with the NTFS file system you are able to encrypt files and folders or set NTFS permissions which prevent them being lost or tamperd with. Throw XP in the bin and get Windows 2000!

[Tizzy]

lol Thanx J2buttonsw .... well the other two users are my parents? so i doubt they'd wanna delete my files!? I officially hate XP!! blub blub *stamps feet* .... think im gonna settle for my lap top which has windows 2000 ... obviously way better than god damn xp!!! aaarrgh

[j2buttonsw]

Just a thought but check whether you have created a new profile instead of logging into you old one: explore to C:\documents and setting and see how many "Tizzy" (or whatever you originally logged on as) profiles there are. You should only see yours, your parents plus "all users". You can also go to start>settings>control panel then "users" to see how many profiles have been set up on your PC. I suspect your profile has been corrupted rather than sinister goings-on involving your parents.

[Tizzy]

Hello again :o) still not havin much luck im afraid! I tried what u suggested but it only discovered one user area and some of my files have been recovered? However it wont remember my personal settings and when i delete something it doesnt send it to mine or anyone elses wastebin it just disappears altogether! Word wont open, my interenet connection has disappeared and when i go to Dell Solutions to check out the settings/properties of my comp it just sayd Undefined intstead of processor - 4 cpu 2.00Ghz blah blah blah like it does on my parents areas! aarggh! lol Sorry to whinge! Still tryin to find the phone number for Dell Support!

[j2buttonsw]

It sounds as if your profile has been corrupted. Logon as one of your parents with administrative rights then remove your old profile (this will delete all of the files within the c:\documents and settings\$your logon name$ folder so move the important data if you can) by right clicking "My Computer" selecting properties then remove your profile in the "user profile" tab (this is from memory so forgive my inaccuracy). Once you have gone, go to the control panel and click the "users" icon and set yourself up again using the same username/password if you so wish.