disappearing files on desktop

[bpokorny]

I just got a new Dell M1330 laptop with Vista Ultimate. Over the course of a weekend away, I loaded up a number of folders on the desktop, which is where I keep my active files. I wanted to get deep into my system in order to find my Outlook.pst file so I could back it up to my flash drive, which was my practice on XP. It wouldn't show that series of folders, so I checked "show hidden files" for my "Users" folder (as I recall). Well, it started hitting all kinds of folders and processing them, and then almost everything disappeared from my desktop.

So I did a system restore, back to the day I loaded my laptop up.

But while some folders were there, restored to my desktop, others were not. And in some of the folders that came back, half the folders were missing -- and those folders were empty.

Yet when I discovered how to "restore" folders, by going back in time, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, even though I could see the missing files in the restore pane.

Moreover, when I tried to move files from the restore pane to the desktop, it indicated the folder (and also the file in question) was already there, asking me to copy and replace. But I couldn't find it, no matter where I looked.

Further, as far as I can see, there are now tons of big hidden files and folders somewhere on my desktop, taking up lots of space, that I can't erase (I had put some big movie .avi files on my desktop).

So, anybody heard of this? Should I worry about constantly losing files on my desktop? Should I store them somewhere else? And how can I delete the invisible but apparently present files somewhere on my desktop.

Many thanks for any ideas...