xp lossing programs

I received this e-mail today from a friend

have a problem for you to check out. I turned off my desktop PC the other day because I wasn't using it that much so I thought I'd give it a rest. I turned it on this morning and things aren't the same. The red 2 for my 2 wire program which usually shows in the bottom left corner is not there. I did a file search and there is a 2 wire program on the C drive, it just doesn't show that it's working or monitoring and I can't bring up the console. Also, when going to Start/Programs- there is nothing there. The menu doesn't show anything except my VPN stuff. There shold be all the other programs that are on the PC such as Games, Real Player, etc. Do you know how to find them on my C drive and get them to show? Also, I checked the System Restore program and it was turned off. I turned it on but it will only show a restore point from today at the time I turned it on so I can't go back to last week for a restore point. I'm confused.

I am not sure what could be the problem other that something is wrong with his harddrive or he had viruse problem that could have deleted his files.

 

Have him run chkdsk to see if the file system is error free. If errors are reported, advise him to back up any critical files and then run chkdsk /f to allow for "repairing" the errors found.

If chkdsk will then run error free yet still no files showing, have him run sfc /scannow to replace for missing or corrupt files. He will possibly need the original install CD.

If the problem still persists, have him run ADAware, SpyBot S&D and then do an on-line virus scan at http://housecall.antivirus.com/

 

xp losing programs

Thanks for the help he found that some of the setting were changed when he restarted the machine the next day. Something was turned off that stoped the programs from showing up when clicked on All programs in the start menu.