I was recently playing about with the group policy msc and explorer policy registry settings. My aim was to disable the start menu/desktop items so that an operater could not open start menu etc etc.
I backed up my registry before hand, made some registry/ group policy changes and got the desired effects. when i returned my registry/group policy back to its orginial state, all seemed fine.
I later realised that the mycomputer icon was gone from start menu and desktop. I can not get it back on the desktop, have tried various things. Adding to the problem, I managed to access my drives via explorer, but looking in my computer there are no drives or items anymore. I am also having issues with programs accessing files from my c:\ drive, such as word, cannot open a document unless that document is stored in documents and settings.
I cannot system restore as i didnt notice the problem until it was too late.
Any ideas are more than welcome.