hi, i did a 'recovery' on my laptop. i initially thought i was doing a 'repair' because it prompted me to press 'r' at the first screen because XP wouldn't run due to a 'either corrupt or missing' system file (c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\SYSTEM). Well, it recovered completely and XP is now running, but everything (programs and all my saved files I had prior to the 'recovery') are gone. The c drive shows 37.5gb available now. Before, I only had 15gb available due to all the files and programs I had saved.

Are all the programs lost or are they just in a compressed format somewhere on the c drive? Can I restore them? If so, how?

Most likely you reset the computer to factory condition. If that is the case then all is gone.

To verify this we could look up the manual for your particular machine. There is usually a Destructive and Non-Destructive Recovery option. Appears like you went Destructive.

What is the exact make & model plus # of the laptop?