[steplock]

If files have been destroyed, sometime the RESTORE function works pretty well - then you have to delete all the old restore files and run AdAware, spybot, antivirus, etc at least twice each!

I've had to resort to using the restore several times on client machines where they have not backed up their files and the virus has destroyed them - it did a surprisingly good job at restoring 90%+ of the files.

The best way to recover? Back Up often! the old Rule of Thumb from way back in the olden days (pre Janet Jackso) was to back up as often as you do not want to retype. If you do a lot of writing, programming etc - even a daily backup can be necessary.

[Brilliant]

Right... First run your virus scanner to make sure you don't have a virus. Then run restore and restore it to the settings that you had before the problem materialized. Make sure you CREATE a restore point before you restore it though, although you can undo a restore if you don't like it anyway.