How do i re-instate my personal setting on boot up in windows xp

computer dork

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Sep 23, 2010
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I've lost my user profile settings on booting up my computer in windows xp pro. Now it loads the packard bell desktop instead of my own. How do I get it back to the way it was
 
Isn't this just a bit like saying "My car won't start" how do I fix it?

You wrote a pretty big blank check here. What's the real problem?

A better description of the problem is needed.
 

computer dork

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Hi, thanks for response. I closed my computer down one day which had all my settings ie desktop, outlook, chrome etc then when I came to open it the next day it has reverted back to looking like it did when I first bought it ie Packard Bell desktop. I've tried doing system restore but that did not work. In windows explorer all my files are there although if I open an excel file then the tool bars are not the same as what I had set in my profile. My main concern is that all me emails are stored in Outlook and when I open it now there is nothing there and it wants me to set up my accounts again. Now My computer starts with some music just before the welcome screen which it didn't do when it was starting using my profile, so everytime i try to re-boot it and i hear that music I know that it is not going to be back to normal. I am using XP Pro. What else would I need to tell you for you to be able to even begin to help me?

Many thanks
 
That's a better description, actually a great description.

At first, I thought maybe just your desktop wallpaper had changed.

You may be able to get things back to normal with the system restore feature of XP.

Startup computer, click Start>Help and Support>Undo changes to your computer with System Restore>Restore my computer to an earlier time.

There's a calendar that will appear. Choose a date in bold that the computer was working and click that date, click Ok and let it restore back.
 

computer dork

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Hiya, thanks again for getting back. I've tried system restore many times going as far back as June, but each time it tells me that my computer cannot be restored to "date selected" and no changes have been made to your computer. Any more suggestions?

Rgds