Multiple problems after using System Restore

[BeeJay]

My brother used system restore today, taking the system back to a restore
point of two weeks ago; as this didn't have the desired effect, he chose to
undo this. He then chose another restore point, back to about ten days ago -
this took the computer an age to perform, and since it restarted, he has
lost the contents of all the folders in OE, desktop shortcuts no longer
work, most files - even within the control panel - are corrupted; and system
restore has erased all it's restore points.

Can anyone tell me what went wrong, please? Will an XP repair install 'fix'
things?

The problem started because he couldn't rid the system of Roxio's Easy Media
Creator 7 - awful software, imho!

My brother is running XP HE SP1. (hopefully SP2 soon)

Many thanks in advance.
Bob

 

[BeeJay]

I forgot to add that the two optical drives are no longer visible in my
computer, also...

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Bob,

As far as System Restore goes, if there are no restore point left and
the undo is not available I would suggest a repair install.

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install by Michael Stevens MS-MVP:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm