access system recovery file

I am totally useless when it comes to computers so I will try to make this sensible the best I can…

I have an HP laptop that had to have the motherboard replaced– with that came a message from vista that I needed a new product key number. the guy at HP instructed me to return my computer to manufacture settings. I saved my documents on a thumb drive and returned them back to my computer after I started my computer again. I located the documents under system recovery files, however, I am unable to open them! I get a message that says: cannot access, may be read only or encrypted. Any ideas on how to access these documents again??