gaz2310 Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 HelloThis is my first post here - hope someone can help me out (rang tech support for PC World and as always - they were useless).Basically, for some unknown reason, when i switched my computer on this morning an error appeared regarding not being able to find the local profile. I restarted the computer - no error message - but now it appears to be logged in as a guest (my settings have all gone - no icons for my files on desktop, etc.). When I look at the users in control panel it shows just main user and guest (i don't use the users options on windows - only me using the computer).However, in the documents and setting folder there is the following folders:- All Users- Main User (this contains all my personal files/folders)- TEMP- Main User.YOUR-QQQLYHUKAQ (this is where i think the problem lies)I don't know why this folder has been created or how to delete it - can anyone shed some light on the situation? I'm totally confused and stuck!Thanks for any help anyone can provide - Gareth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Hello and welcome to Windows Forum. We'll try and help if we can.Tell me, have you recently installed any new programs? If so, what were they?As this is very recent, can you do a System Restore to a time before it occurred?Do you have a backup of your system? If not, I urge to to make one as soon as you get things back to normal. It will be able to save you an awful lot of problems in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaz2310 Posted March 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Hello and welcome to Windows Forum. We'll try and help if we can.Tell me, have you recently installed any new programs? If so, what were they?As this is very recent, can you do a System Restore to a time before it occurred?Do you have a backup of your system? If not, I urge to to make one as soon as you get things back to normal. It will be able to save you an awful lot of problems in the future.Thanks for the quick reply. I've not installed any new programs or done anything else that I think could effect the computer.How could i go about doing a system restore?I have a lot of my work backed up, but i would need to access my ms outlook folders to back them up - and as the computer is not seeing me as the normal user it is not bringing up my outlook personal folders.It seems as though the 2 main user profiles are conflicting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 To access system restore, click START / ALL PROGRAMS / ACCESSORIES / SYSTEM TOOLS / SYSTEM RESTORE.Then select RESTORE TO AN EARLIER TIME, then select a date and click restore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaz2310 Posted March 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 To access system restore, click START / ALL PROGRAMS / ACCESSORIES / SYSTEM TOOLS / SYSTEM RESTORE.Then select RESTORE TO AN EARLIER TIME, then select a date and click restore.One of my main worries here is that i will loose my emails - which i cannot find at the moment - i have ABF Outlook Backup installed - but if i cannot find my emails how can i back them up? Will they be lost in the system restore? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb2001 Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 worst case scenario, you might have to go into safe mode to acces the "hidden" administrator account.Reboot the computer, after the text is loaded - detection of drives and so, and right before the windows screen, spam F8 and select Safe mode.Login as administrator, since the guest account can't use the system restore tool...When safe mode is past the login, it usually prompts you with the suggestion to run the system restore tool, and just do so.In case it don't, just do as in the previous post... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb2001 Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 One of my main worries here is that i will loose my emails - which i cannot find at the moment - i have ABF Outlook Backup installed - but if i cannot find my emails how can i back them up? Will they be lost in the system restore?Yes you might loose your emails in the system restore.BUT if you are running the backup tool as you say, you can lookup where it store the backup, and copy the backup to a removable drive, like a USB pen or burn it to a CD.Then run the system restore, and backup your emails from the USB pen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Taken of a microsoft forum.System Restore does not cause you to lose personal files stored in the My Documents folder, data files, or e-mail messages after restoring the computer to an earlier time. If you restore the computer to an operating state that existed before you installed a program, the program's data files are not lost, but you must reinstall the actual program again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb2001 Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 they say so, true, but i encounter deletion of files loads of times, usually the file isn't actually deleted, its size is just 0 bytes...But true, most of the time files ain't afflicted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaz2310 Posted March 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Okay, thank you to everyone who replied - very much appreciate your help!I've done a system restore to one week ago and all is looking much better - skype auto starts and logs me in, everything is on the desktop, my quick launch icons are there, etc.Feels like home!There is still the additional user folder in documents and settings but it no longer seems to be causing any probs - just seems a bit weird?!Thanks again for all the help - Gareth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Hope it continues to run OK for you. Stick around - you might like it here :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 http://windowsxp.mvps.org/restprofile.htmShould shed some light on why that user appeared. It can also happen when Windows is installed twice on the same drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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