Actually, I couldn't find a way to get into system restore without the
ability to access anything, including a command line. You're right, I'm sure
someone else here could have found a way but I wasn't getting that answer
yet. I went ahead and tried the recovery disks I made when I bought the
computer and that worked! So I am just in the process of reinstalling
programs and back-ups and updates. Thanks to everyone that tried to help!

"Daave" wrote:

> It sounds to me that you gave up on Windows' System Restore prematurely!
>
> What is the make and model of your PC? I take it that pressing F10 at
> bootup wipes your hard drive and lays down a fresh install. I hope you
> have backed up all your data and settings.
>
> If you have problems in the future, it would be wise to post here
> *before* you try anything drastic! Very often, there are fairly
> straightforward methods for dealing with PC problems (which usually stem
> from some sort of malware infestation).
>
>
> "Gail" <Gail@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:80B3CB7D-86E1-41ED-96AD-9494599A216F@microsoft.com...
> > Well, I turned it off and it says that the system is not complete and
> > to run
> > setup again. Tried it again with same problem. Should I use the
> > recovery
> > disks I made when I bought the computer? It is OEM and I did not get
> > any
> > windows cd w/it. Any ideas, anyone?
>
> > "Gail" wrote:
>
> >> I was having problems with my computer and tried to do a system
> >> restore. It
> >> ended up telling me that it couldn't restore it and no changes would
> >> be made.
> >> I shut down computer and when I turned it on the next day, the icons
> >> were
> >> huge on the desktop and I couldn't access anything. There was no
> >> taskbar and
> >> when I did a ctrl alt delete the task mgr came up very large and I
> >> was not
> >> able to shut the computer down. I turned it off was going to try
> >> safe mode
> >> but could not access it. Nothing happened when I hit F8 key so
> >> finally
> >> decided to do a system recovery hitting the F10 key. I was aware
> >> that I
> >> would go back to factory computer settings and would have do a lot of
> >> updates
> >> and installs. It went through the process and welcomed me, etc. and
> >> then
> >> went to Windows XP Home screen and said to wait. So I waited and
> >> waited and
> >> I am still waiting. It doesn't leave that screen. The hourglass
> >> will move
> >> if I move the mouse, but otherwise, nothing is happening. I am
> >> afraid to
> >> turn it off.
>
>
>