I deleted 59,659 Windows Files from the Recycle Bin and now need help!!

[WindsorGirl]

I am on my mom's computer and feel like a complete idiot because I did a noobish thing... emptied the recycle bin before making sure I did not need those files.

WHAT I DID:

I was clearing off my mom's desk top due to her having vision problems. I was moving some shortcuts to Rocket Dock which I just installed to make her screen less cluttered and deleted the My Computer and My Documents and another folder called Dell Documents or something like that from the desktop. It should have been a shortcut right???

Well seems it wasn't. She bought this computer off someone who built if for her from their basement. I don't understand why important files were on the desktop like that.

Since I already emptied the recycle bin I can't get them back so easily. I know it is just the allocation to those files that are gone but this is where I am lost. I have never done this before. I first tried to access My Computer through the start menu but I only got errors such as:

Explorer.EXE : Server execution failed

I tried to bring up System Recovery but could not. Got this error"

http://i.imgur.com/rwtHCcx.png

Everything that points to everything seems to be gone..

WHAT I TRIED:

I tried to find a recovery program by searching what was suggested by others who accidentally deleted permanently important Windows files. Someone suggested "Recover My Files" but neglected to say it was not free. So it searched and found 59,659 deleted files, but no way to recover them without paying first.

So then I downloaded FreeUndelete 2.1 and Recuva

Then I read that the more I do on the computer the more I risk replacing the lost file allocations with new file allocations. Is that right? But what is done is done. FreeUndelete 2.1 told me that I had to put the lost files on another drive. My mom only has one drive so I am putting the files on a flash drive. It is still not done and I have Recuva scanning because I don't know how with FreeUndelete 2.1 to put the files back where they belong. I am hoping Recuva will let me know more.

FreeUndelete 2.1 said the files or whole directories deleted were:

FILE - bootex.log
FILE - bootsqm.dat
FOLDER - from old computer (yes that was one folder's name on the desktop but not as important)
FOLDER - Program Files (x86)
FOLDER - ProgramData
FOLDER - System Volume Information

I am scared I totally destroyed my mom's computer. I feel like a complete idiot for (1) not noticing that the folders on the desktop were not merely shortcuts (2) and emptying the recycle bin.

WHAT I NEED:

Help? How do I rectify this problem Step by Step??? Recuva already says a LOT of files such as those specified boot ones have been overwritten! Exactly how bad could this be?

Here is a screenshot of the Recuva results (only a part that fits on the screen):

http://i.imgur.com/XLA1fVC.png

I am using Recuva because FreeUndelete 2.1 hung while trying to recover the files when it was on the last part... I know chances are high that I will have to do a Windows Restore. How do I do that? I will have to contact that guy who built this computer for the Windows 7 CD but he doesn't want to let me use it. He wants instead for me to bring the computer over there (even though he won't charge me I want him to let me have a copy of the Windows CD he used on this computer he sold to my mom. I don't know why he did not include it. Perhaps it is on C somewhere (C://WindowsInstall or something??) but I can't access that now anyway)..

I know there is a way to do Windows recovery when Windows files are missing by putting in the Windows CD .. right? I think I remember that could be done. Or would I have to reinstall Windows completely? There are some files still on the computer ... not ALL was lost .. so that is why I am thinking Windows CD could help replace many of the missing system files ..

A lot of the help I need is verification of things I only have know and correcting me on things I understood wrong as well as tell me the steps to fix this the smoothest and best way possible to salvage the most files..


UPDATE

I was mostly successful with Recuva but was not able to get everything back. Still, I can use the computer and I can access My Computer again. I was also able to go to System Restore and restored to 2 days earlier. Even so, some things are odd about the computer still ... icons blank but then finally show up or disappear again unless I refresh, refresh seems slow, bringing up directories it needs to search for contents first but always finds them, in Minecraft (my niece plays it at my mom's since she does not have the net) is very low colour resolution (reminds me of the old days of computers where shading was done by the spacing of pixels), etc.

I am not sure what else to do. I have been checking back to these forums. Is this the right section to ask for help on this?

Also I installed LookInMyPC as an easy way to see what my mom's computer has in it (if that helps anyone help me .. I might need to reinstall drivers and such. Even though I have sound, the sound icon by the clock has a red X and mousing over it says "The Audio Service is not running.")

Here is some info about this computer (my mom's):

DELL Inspiron 530

OS:
Windows 7 Ultimate SP 1 Build 7601 64-bit

BIOS:
DELL - 42302e31 Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG

Processor:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7500 @ 2.93GHz

RAM:
4 sticks of DDR-2 @ 1024 ea = 4Gb

VID:
ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO 256 MB (Colour Depth 32)

SOUND:
AMD High Definition Audio Device
Realtek High Definition Audio

 

[WindsorGirl]

Grabbed answer from here since no one answered me for days:

Recover deleted files

 

[crookedmouth]

Couldn't you just use a restore point?