DDVDrom, DVDrw drives acting funny

[kendo]

for instance, i put in a dvd i just burnt, and the dvdrw drive says "blank disc" in my computer

when i open the disc there is over 4gigs of info on it, soon as i close the disc though, it says blank disc under the icon

put a disc in DVDrom drive (drive D) and the disc shows up in my computer as being in drive E, double click the icon, disc opens, light blinks on drive D like it should, but my computer still thinks its reading drive E

also, burnt dvdr goes into dvdrom drive and the drive doesnt recognize it, it just spins and spins, take it out and put it in dvdrw drive and it works.

these problems started recently after trying out a bunch of burner/converter freeware, and then removed/ uninstalled. a week ago i never had any problems with the discs I burnt (using roxio)

i've run chkdsk, windoctor, spybot, adaware, defrag, regclean, antivirus......

could something still be in there conflicting after using and removing those programs

[-pops-]

Which operating system? If XP or ME try doing a system restore to before you installed the dodgy freeware.

Of no immediate help but just to let you know my policy when installing programs (any programs at all whether they are freebies or something costing £££££) I always make a full system backup of my machine before installing and I also make a System Restore point.

By doing that, I can repair small c**k-ups that may be inflicted (System Restore) and also major ones such as the computer not booting (backup).

[kendo]

uh-oh

now tell me

how do I retrieve deleted restore points?

windows xp home (sp-2)

[-pops-]

how do I retrieve deleted restore points?

You can't.

Did you delete them deliberately or did it happen when you were doing your experiments?

I take it that you don't have a backup either, then?