windows10.help.com: SYSTEM RESTORE HAS LOCKED ME OUT OF MY DESKTOP!

[dwtjan]

 

windowstenforums.com

[B][/B]  My son-in-law works as an IT for a large corporation. Don't know which one. He built me a computer about a year and a half ago and it's worked beautifully. It's a gaming computer with a gaming keyboard and mouse I have NO idea how to utilize or fix it when my cat steps on it and it doesn't light up or type anymore. It is a hit and miss that I do not even know how I get it working again. Like I even 'game'!  I WISH I could tell you the specs but I recently have been locked out of my Windows desktop so I can't bring up system information or anything. I believe it is Windows 10 Pro. For about a week or so there were no back or forward buttons in Chrome. It was very irritating and inconvenient. No way that I could tell of to take me back to pages I'd already been on in the same tab. I don't know if I should have uninstalled, reinstalled Chrome, but I chose to use system restore. The restore point was for earlier this month of January 2022. If I had installed an app it was no big deal to lose. In fact, I wondered if it was from an app added to the toolbar (?) so I removed it from Chrome. Once I did the system restore, I was taken to the Automatic Repair page.  I'm using a very old laptop to troubleshoot. I had never known about this new Automatic Repair feature. I read how to use it. But it just keeps looping. I am unable to get into safe mode. I have always been unsure of the F numbers like F8. I know sometimes you have to press another key to make them functional. F8 was not doing anything. I read that in Win 10 they changed it to F4 or just 4 and the same with F5 and F6. I then read how to take it back to F8. I was able to do that using the command prompt. Still, nothing worked. In fact, most commands did not let me use them successfully. I then read where we usually use things as a standard user. You had to click on run as administrator. All the solutions offered for my situation did not apply as I cannot get onto my desktop or get to the start key to choose run as. I looked up to see if there was a command to run as administrator. The answer I came up with no matter how I phrased it, was NO. I can't run sfc /scannow or chkdsc. Almost everything I tried came back as an error of some kind not allowing me to successfully use the command. I did not think system restore could do this. I am unwilling to reinstall Windows. there must be a way I can get to my desktop. Unfortunately, the computer did not come with a disc and I did not make one or backup anything. I am a 70-year-old disabled woman who does not remember things very well anymore. I used to get repair discs at a website that allowed me to fix things. This website just goes up to Win XP these days and I've read there is no way to find such a disc unless it was specific to my computer and its components. I have a portable floppy drive. I found before that this was essential to fixing my PC many times in the past. Using the command prompt from the Automatic Repair page Is a Windows shell. It is not a real DOS command prompt. I've never had luck using the shell. Only real Dos. My PC boots up fine and I'm assuming it is in Windows but just not allowing me on my desktop. Changing the safe mode F back to F8 takes you to the old DOS-looking option choices. They are exactly the same choices as the ones changed to F4,5,6. I am unable to get to safe mode and I am totally at a loss of what to do. I don't give up. I'll keep researching until I find a way. I really need some legal info that's on my PC right now, so I'm stressed. ANY help or advice or suggestions would be extremely welcome. Thank you all.  P.S. Before I could click submit, the question popped up asking if I remembered to include the ver number for Windows I'm using. I have no clue if it is not Win 10 Pro. The actual ver info is in the computer that I cannot use until this is fixed. Sorry.