I reinstalled xp becuase of a crash, but now i cant access any of my personal files that were in the documents and settings folder. I get an access denied error when trying to open the folder. When checking the properties of the folder it has read only checked and says the folder is empty.

Any help would be gratefuly appreciated!

Right-click on the folder, select Properties and click on the Security tab. If your username does not have the required access permissions add your username there. If you have not done this before you will have to do some exploring and learning.

If you become stuck re-post here...