sounds like you lost a login name or changed the logon properties, you
are currently seeing the default desktop and IE properties. Did
someone create a new login ID - same effect.

When rebooting do you see the logon screen with the User account Id
icons? Or does it boot right to the desktop? A change in the user
accounts can cause this symptom.

There is no degrading effect on the system memory and CPU power.

Thanks, Mark.

> sounds like you lost a login name or changed the logon properties, you
> are currently seeing the default desktop and IE properties. Did
> someone create a new login ID - same effect.

The new state boots up to "Administrator" - which it didn't before. I
think it booted up to the name of the supplier - and there is in
Documents and Settings a folder which has the name of the supplier. To
get my own personal Favourites recognised again I copied them into the
Favourites folder of the "Administrator" folder. So, from what you have
related here, I need to get the system to boot to the folder with the
name of the supplier. Can you tell me, please, how I can do that?

> When rebooting do you see the logon screen with the User account Id
> icons? Or does it boot right to the desktop? A change in the user
> accounts can cause this symptom.

It's booting right to the desktop, and if I click "Start" up comes the
Start menu with "Administrator" written at the top.

> There is no degrading effect on the system memory and CPU power.

Great. But I would feel happier knowing that the system is working just
as it was set to do by the suppliers - who "built" the system for
particular purposes.

Thanks, Mark. What you have said makes sense. It looks like I just
need to get the system to boot to the other user folder.

Ellie.

In control panel - start/settings/control panel

dbl click user accounts

Sometimes Windows will still have an old username listed in the menus -
click on the "change an account" link

If the old account is listed then enable it again/or give it new access
powers such as administrator.

I am not able to guess what level of access you had before.

If you don't see the old account you can create a new one but, the
favorites and such, will not be there.

Usually Windows will not delete these user specific settings so that
you can disable and enable accounts as you see fit.

You said you were able to locate the old favs folder, go back to the
location where you found it and write down the personal settings
account name.

For instance explore the Documents and Settings folder on the C:\ or
main drive There will be a folder with the former account name still
in the directory. If so, then create a new account with the old name
it may simply integrate everything as it was. If not you can drag and
drop the favs and local settings to the new account folder. This
should take of it, there may still be some tweaks here and there you
may wish to do however.

Chances are no one will notice what you did or know it was you that did
it. Most people might notice something missing but will assume they
did something wrong or different. Most people just want it to work and
don't care about how it works, so when things go wrong they can't tell
if they did something. If a situation presents itself act like you
have no idea and ask them what did they do to it. Or tell the truth,
there is nothing wrong with that either. The truth is there is nothing
wrong with the computer with the exception that the personal settings
that used to be there are not completely there anymore. People will
just have to re-apply their favs and other settings again.

BTW each account can have a completely different desktop/screen saver/
personal links/ icons on the desktop/ wallpaper etc. Except for
someone deleteing the user account name or deleting a personal folder
in the Docs and Sets folder there should never be a problem with others
if you make changes to yours.

Good Luck

X->out