Vista Folder Disappeared -- Sort of

I have run into a strange problem with a folder that I created soon
after I bought this notebook a month or so ago. I downloaded a large
(3+ Gb) file into this folder that is used only for downloads.

Now the folder no longer displays in the list of folders under the C:
drive. The files, however are not gone. If I hard code the address
c:\Downloads into the explorer address bar, the files are displayed
but are shown as being in C:\Desktop.

I tried to recreate the Downloads folder, but I get the message,
Do you want to merge the files in C:\Desktop with the files in
C:\Downloads.

I'm stumped. Apparently the C:\Downloads folder somehow points to
C:\Desktop now. The files in C:\Desktop do not display on the desktop
(thank Ghod).

The machine is a bog standard HP dv5-1000us
Vista Home Premium x_64
250Gb hard Drive

It's relatively new so it doesn't have much installed on it and
nothing that should be messing with folders. The machine is clean,
scanned with NOD32, Adaware, and the like.

Any ideas? Perhaps I can just rename C:\Desktop to C:\Downloads? that
just seems too simple.

On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:11:57 +0200, "i love vista"
<> wrote:

>this can happen if you somehow(?) defined the downloads folder to work as
>your desktop
>
>you do that normally by right clicking on the desktop icon as you can see in
>this image
>
>http://slashstar.com/blogs/tim/image...structure2.gif
>
>and then selecting Propreties and location.
>
>see if it points to c:/downloads...
>
>if so you should change it to its normal default location
>
>C:\Users\<username>\Desktop
>
>where <username> is your username
>
>tell me if this helps

Unfortunately, the folder points to C:\.

Attempting to rename C:\Desktop to C:\Downloads causes an error
stating that a folder with that name already exists. However
C:\Downloads does not display in the folder tree. Under the "Share"
tab, the folder is listed as C:\Downloads. And, when I enter
C:\Downloads in the Explorer address bar, I can see the files that
were in that folder but the address changes to C:\Desktop -- go
figure.

BTW, I have done a cold boot, and the behavior remains the same.

It seems like it may be a registry issue with the settings for
C:\Downloads somehow pointing to C:\Desktop and Vista thinks that
C:\Downloads == C:\Desktop.

Since I can still get at the files that were originally in
C:\Downloads, I'll fiddle with it some over the holiday break.