Missing folders from destop

Sometimes when you have lots of icons (and folders) in the desktop, they hide out of view because theres is not enough space to show them... if this applies to your situation, you may have to see the desktop from the Windows Explorer perspective... Go to My Computer\C:\Documents and Settings\your_accont\Desktop.

If no folders are there, look in the Recycle bin, and if nothing there, run an undelete application such as Recuva... run at least one more application if the first one doesn't find your folders.

Best undelete freeware
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-data-recovery-file-undelete-utility.htm
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm