Hi,
I used a restore cd on a different emachines computer thinking it was the same as mine and would work the same.
but i think its completely messed up my computer as i cant play games such as the sims any more.
i think i deleted some programs that i had before.. any idea how to get them back?!
help meeeeeeee =]

Hello, and Welcome to D-A-L.

First, have you tried a System Restore? (If there's a restore point on your machine which is prior to this dilema.) XP generally makes a new restore point prior to major changes, so check this.

Going here;
Start Menu\All Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Restore
will illustrate the available points/dates.

So I gather you don't have a restore CD for your machine?

Do you have access to an XP CD which is the same as your installation? (example: Home, Pro, Media Edition, etc)

Do you have your XP Product Key? (The attached tool will find it for you.) Unzip it to your desktop or somewhere convenient to you and run it (while in windows).

If there are none of the above avenues of approach; (or even just for possible required info during this scenario)

Download, install, and run Everest Home Edition on this machine. (Clean FreeWare) Once it's finished loading and running, click on Report, Report Wizard in the Menu Bar. Save all pages (Hardware related pages is the default so change this option). Save it to a HTML file (the default) in a location of your choice. (It will default the location to C:\Program Files\Lavalys\EVEREST Home Edition\Reports.) Add this report(.HTM) document to a .zip (compressed) file.

Please Attach that .zip document to your next posting. (When posting, click on Advanced, and just below the posting box you'll see "Additional Options", and within that, "Attach Files". Click on "Manage Attachments" and follow the prompts. Browse to the file location on your system and choose UPLOAD.)