Pc Novice,how do I get things back?

MadCowMan

Open up windows explorer ( or my computer ) and double click on the C: drive.
then double click on "Documents and Settings" . Youll see a number of subfolders. Each of those represents a different user set up on your PC. If you log into your Pc has hazzie123 for example , there should be one called hazzie123 , however if a duplicate profile has been created , there may be a hazzie123.old or hazzie123.001 profile. Look at the one with the most frequent date on it , and thats most likely the one you are currently using.
Go through each folder , then click on my documents , desktop or favourites untill you find the profile you want.

then its a matter of copying the files to the correct location on your active profile.

Fifer

Anyone else suspect that the box that 'popped up' might have just been the 'unused shortcuts' wizard and that the desktop shortcuts are all that have disappeared (and they'll probably be in the recycle bin)?