Please help!

[HOPE]

Last night I did a defrag and disk cleanup. Today when I
turn on my computer none of my desk top icons show up and
xp home edition will not start. When I try to open any
programs I get an error message. XP was installed when I
purchased my computer. I have all the disks. I am a
computer novice and not savvy on systems. I don't want
to lose my files and programs. Please, can anyone help
me? Thank you so much.

 

[Jon Erlandson]

See if you can boot into safe mode, then use system restore.

A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222

System Restore
http://www.theeldergeek.com/system_restore.htm