Ok here's the story:

I was using my computer and i right clicked on the recycle bin and clicked "Empty Recycle Bin" and i got the BLUE screen of death.. Restarting didn't work as i got it every time before it would load. Anyways that's in the past. I called out a technician who replaced my hard drive (which had failed causing the blue screen). I told him I needed the files on the old installation of XP as i had spent 4 months working on them with no backups (dont have a go at me about that lol).. Anyway he said he would install XP over my old partition as the old one still failed to load giving a blue screen (so the windows was CORRUPT he said). So now i have my new xp installation over the old one. I have all the folders for the programs i used to have still in the program files folder, but none show on the start menu or in the add/remove section of the control panel. Some launch from the folders, some don't. So that wasn't and isn't good, Still not solved that. Also I wanted to access my my documents folder from before so i went to C:/Documents&Settings/name of my old my doc folder. Except it says "C:/Documents&Settings/name of my old my doc folder is not accessible, Access Denied".

My questions are:

How do I get access ( i am obviously logged in as administrator for the computer) to the old my doc folder.
How do i get all those programs back on the start menu and on the add/remove programs section of the control panel.. do i need to reinstall them all?

Many Thanks for your time and help.

Psy/ AlexUm... ok. The tech replaced the HDD because it failed? And installed XP over the old partition?

Could you try to explain that a little more clearly, because that makes no sense.

If the hard drive was replaced, where did your old files come from? Were they copied or was the drive not actually replaced? Can't really help if the explanation makes no sense.he said that my harddrive had failed and he replaced it with a new one. i watched him do that..

then he installed xp over the old one which was there on a partition and now i can see the files when i go to a program and click open but i can't access them or open them.

I don't know how they are there as he removed the harddrive. well im pretty sure he did, he said he did lolBetter check with the tech to see exactly what he did. While we can guess at the changes made or exactly what the tech did, we could be very wrong. Check with him and see what exactly he did with the hard drive. Was it replaced and the old files copied over or did he just reinstall Windows over the old one and not replace the drive?i cant get hold of him, hes a call out one from dell. lets look at it this way.. if he removed the harddrive the files wouldnt be there as he didnt copy anything.

so lets SAY its the same one..Well, if he didn't replace the drive, it would be HELPFUL to know what he DID do to PUT you in the state you are in now.

Meanwhile, reboot in safe mode, try to access from there.i cant access in safe mode either:(What the 'techie' did is questionable but you could try:

1. Take ownership of the folder/files - see here.

2. Mount the hdd in another pc and copy files for backup, then sortout the OS problem.

OK we won't give you a hard time about lack of backups but if the hdd has failed catastrophically your chances of recovering all your hard work are kinda slim...

Good luck.

Dusty is correct...you need to take owneship of those files in order to have access to them.
As far as programs being there they will not run properly because you are running a new installation of Windows.
They need to be re-installed on the new OS and then they will work and also be shown in the Start menu.thanks for your help guys.. I downloaded a program (before reading this) called NTFSdatarecovery.exe which searched the old installation and found the files and sent them to the new one so i have them all now:) thanks for taking the time out to help me..

Many Thanks.

PsyPsy - thank you for coming back to report your successful outcome and how you achieved it.

Good luck.