[Nepa]

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OK, I'm trying not to panic, because I don't think any files have been lost, but just want to get this fixed sooner rather than later.

One of the applications I had open crashed, and the next thing I knew, every single icon (mostly shortcuts) I had placed on my desktop disappeared, so that all that remained were "My Computer", the trash bin, IE, and Outlook (and somewhat oddly shortcuts to UB and Absolute, even though all other file and poker shortcuts were gone).

Here's what my sleuthing has discovered so far. I'm pretty sure the problem has to do somehow with XP user accounts. In the "All Users / Desktop" folder, I see the exact contents of the bare desktop I'm seeing right now (i.e. those few applications and the UB and Absolute shortcuts), so it seems clear that I'm in the "All Users" XP profile. Now I go to "Dan / Desktop", and I see all the contents of my old desktop there (what I'm trying to get back to!!!)...

But try as I might, I can't figure out how the hell to get back to the "Dan" profile (and accompanying desktop). I "log off" and log back on to "Dan", but I just get the very same bare bones desktop.

Hope someone out there can help me...

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sounds like your profile got corrupted. Do you have under C:\Documents and Settings\dan and C:\Documents and Settings\dan.000?