Strange Problem after reinstalling windows

k so my pc was runnin slow, at first i tryed windows update, that installed find but didnt help the problem so I decided to reinstall windows thru a boot disk, after doing this and selecting the repair option, so i wouldnt lose my files on the pc XP reinstalled itself, My pc is now running as fast as it should be, only problem being, My desktop and user settings have gone, however if i go to C:\Documents and Settings\Old User Name\Desktop, The files and everything I had there, is still there, Everything I had installed in program files, is still there aswell but most applications/games either, get a error saying not installed properly, crash my comp, or just not work at all, a couple of things work, like firefox(tho all my bookmarks are gone), If i go to add/remove programs, none of the stuff that shows up in program files is there at all, Everything that was on MY HD is still there, just in diffrent places, I have tryed creating a username same as the old one but that didnt do anything, So do I have to uninstall everything and reinstall it again? or is there a way i can fix this? Thanks

My system is as follows dunno if it makes any diff but yea..

AMD ATHLON XP 3200+ 2.2ghz
1GB of ram
Radeon 9250
XP Pro, SP2

Any help would be great..

 

Wait you reinstalled windows because your computer was running slow? You said it reinstalled itself, what exactly happened?

If the windows system itself reinstalled without uninstalling the other programs completely, you'll probably have to reinstall all of those programs manually.

 

I loaded XP setup via boot menu and Chose the repair windows option, weather that totaly reinstalls the windows system or not im not sure... is there no other way around this other than reinstalling everything, and if I have to do that, how would I remove the programs? they dont show up in add/remove programs at all, Would it jus be a case of deleting the folders in C:/program files?

 

Sounds like you just created a new user is all. Why not log in as old user.

 

The old user was no longer on the menu, once i realize the files were still there, i tryed to make a username the same as the old one, but everything is still the same, cant run any of the installed progs, things not where they should be ect ect

 

I really haven't a clue how you did that on a repair, more like a clean install into a new Windows Folder. You will have to install the programs I guess.

 

Alrite, jus delete the folders from program files then a fresh install yea?

 

You could probably just install all the programs without deleting the program files... usually the installation programs will take care of that for you. In addition, the installation program may detect that those programs are really still installed and ask you to uninstall it, so its cleaner. I'm not sure about why it doesn't show up in the Add/Remove programs though... you sure you don't have a virus?