I had xp, then re-installed it, can't access my old programs

[gurkan]

I'm not too knowledgable about computers, but I thought I could accomplish
teh easy task of re-installing xp, but I couldn't! I did teh re-install, and
now the new xp won't set up with all my previous programs and files, I can
only access them directly from the hard drive using my computer. What can I
do? And thanks for the help!

[Byte]

Your question is extremely vague. Are you saying that you are missing the
desktop icons to access your programs/applications? You can "access them
directly from the harddrive using your computer"; How?

"gurkan" wrote:

> I'm not too knowledgable about computers, but I thought I could accomplish
> teh easy task of re-installing xp, but I couldn't! I did teh re-install, and
> now the new xp won't set up with all my previous programs and files, I can
> only access them directly from the hard drive using my computer. What can I
> do? And thanks for the help!

They are still there, but now are in a different user
folder. Open my computer, select C drive, then documents
and settings and I think users (but not sure). All current
user folders should be there along with the old one (if
you didn't reformat the hard drive). In your current user
folder, rename the Desktop folder (in case you screw up),
then go up one level, open old user folder, and copy the
desktop folder to your new user account folder. Keep in
mind that if their are programs associated with some of
those icons, the underlying program may not run because th
info on installation is in the application data folder
(and registry file associations) in the old user folder.
If installed for all users, may work.
>-----Original Message-----
>I'm not too knowledgable about computers, but I thought I
could accomplish
>teh easy task of re-installing xp, but I couldn't! I did
teh re-install, and
>now the new xp won't set up with all my previous programs
and files, I can
>only access them directly from the hard drive using my
computer. What can I
>do? And thanks for the help!
>.
>