files missing from desktop/ wallpaper back as default.

Emac 1Ghz 512MB RAM OSX 10.4.7

Friend just called me saying that when she booted up her mac today it's not showing any of her files or preferences. The wallpaper is back to the default image, and files that she was working with off the desktop are missing. All the stuff she had in itunes is gone too. I asked her to make sure she'd logged in under her account and not guest or whatever. She's also rebooted and it's not made any difference.

When she opens applications there is no reference to files she has worked on (open recent files yadda yadda). The trash only has two items that she put in the trash herself.

Just had a call from her now and she said that all the photos etc she was working on (previously saved to the desktop) were in a folder under her user name organised by date of creation. Now she's gone and dragged these back to the desktop and cant remember the original location she found them in (nice on luv!)


So has the mac just lost/corrupted its prefs? anything she's done wrong or just down to **** happens? If it is corrupted, how would you go about returning things to their original state (for future ref, since she's screw things up now).

I've never had the above happen to me in the 6months since I switched, but she's only had the mac for a few weeks and is freaking out that its going to dump her work every full moon.

cheers for your help.