Windows 7 Desktop reverted to default and all program setting went away

Question

After shtting down Windows and starting it next day my desktop had reverted to default. All my icons were gone. My hardisk seems ok and my programs and fiels seem to be there too. But when I start any program it's settings are as if I had just installed it, ie they have reverted to some default setting.

After some googling around and trying to find a way to revert back I conclude that Windows appeard to boot to username "SYSTEM". If I open cmd and type "echo %username%" I get "SYSTEM". The username I've used previously is "joe". If I log out and try to change user Windows shown available users as "joe", "Administrator" and "Test". If I select "Joe" I get same same default destop and my username is SYSTEM.

On my harddisk there is a folder C:\Users\joe\desktop" which appears to be OK and have my old deskptop with Firefox links and program settings.

How do I revert to my old "joe" account and what is user SYSTEM? Why changing user to "joe" give me user "SYSTEM" settings?

Answer 1

I managed to solve the problem. I created a new user "joe2" and copied everything from I copied everything from "C:\Users\joe\" (all files and folders) under newly created "C:\Users\joe2\". Then I switched main login user to "joe2" and gave all relevant rights. After rebooting I had to arrange some views and links on the desktop but that I could live with.