HELP!!!

[Guest]

Today, my computer slowed down, then locked up. I rebooted and windows would
not load. After the initial check (after "boot from cd") I just got the grey
screen and nothing more.
I tried a few times but got the same thing..wouldn't even load to "safe mode"
After numeous attempts I tried to boot with the XP PRO disk.
The only thing it would do is a complete reinstall.
Now I have it up and running again, as if I had reformatted. I had a quick
look and found all my files and doccuments still on C drive, but not really
accessable to my "newly" installed OS.
All my programs and doccuments are there and seem intact.
Is there a way to put them all back where xp can find them? Or do I need to
burn them all and the reformat and reinstall?
Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Today, my computer slowed down, then locked up. I rebooted and windows
would
not load. After the initial check (after "boot from cd") I just got the
grey
screen and nothing more.
I tried a few times but got the same thing..wouldn't even load to "safe
mode"
After numeous attempts I tried to boot with the XP PRO disk.
The only thing it would do is a complete reinstall.
Now I have it up and running again, as if I had reformatted. I had a quick
look and found all my files and doccuments still on C drive, but not
really
accessable to my "newly" installed OS.
All my programs and doccuments are there and seem intact.
Is there a way to put them all back where xp can find them? Or do I need
to
burn them all and the reformat and reinstall?
Thanks in advance for any help

You need to reinstall the programs, but it should go quickly if you
reinstall to the same location because, since the files are already there,
it won't have to do much but update the Registry.